The Best Things in Life
by Agnes Howlett
Summary: Hotch is the new BAU chief and Reid has just joined the team. In the beginning, their relationship is full of hate, but slowly they fall in love for each other. However, they need to overcome their prejudices and difficulties if they want to be together
1. New CoWorker

_**Hello people, this is my HotchReid fic and it contains slash. If you don't know, slash is a romantic male/male relationship; so, if ou don't like to see two men falling in love for each other, you do not need to read it or comment, right?**_

_**English is not my first language, and I tried to make no mistakes. But, if you find one, let me know, but not "break" me, please.**_

_**I wrote this fic because I love CM and all it's characters, and I hope you like my humble fic too; by the way, Criminal Minds does not belong to me, it is CBS'!**_

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**_**The Best Things in Life - Chapter 1  
"New Co-Worker"**

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_"L__ove is something I do not understand. I do not know when it comes and I just do not know when it ends" -  
__Madeleine de Scudéry__, French writer._

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Aaron Hotchner was sitting in his chair, inside his new office, looking at fifteen horrible crime scene photos that JJ had brought for him a few minutes ago. He had become the leader of the BAU one year ago, after Gideon's "breakdown". However, that was the most terrible case he would have to solve on charge. It involved three girls murdered, found in an alley in Montgomery, Alabama. But the worst was what was written in their bodies.

After all, the crime wasn't what worried him most. The fact was that it would be the first time he would leader the team without Gideon's presence. The old profiler was taking vacations in Maine, and nobody knew when he would be back. Hotch knew Gideon deserved to rest, but it would be hard to prove that he could be as good as him. And, taking Aaron out of his thoughts, a knock at the door.

"Come in", he said, putting the photos on his desk and settling in the chair.

He hid the crime scene photos in case it wasn't a person of the team, but who was there was just a boy wearing a large and red blouse with yellow stripes and a very short hair. Hotch didn't know the kid, but the other seemed to be very shy.

"Good… Good morning, Agent Hotchner. I'm Dr. Spencer Reid"

"Good morning", they greet and Hotch stood there, raised eyebrow, asking for explanations and knowing that tiny boy wouldn't be intimidating. Reid, on the other hand, was much more nervous. Hotch was about to ask what he was doing there and, other question, which was inside him: how can someone as young as that boy be a "doctor"?

"Well… It seems that I have just been accepted as a member of your team", he finally said, hesitantly.

"Excuse me?", Hotch asked. "I'm the leader of the team, and I haven't done any kind of job interview, and…"

The look in Reid's eyes was a mix of fear and disappointing and Hotch was about to end up saying that it was just a mistake when someone entered the office without asking, what made the two men leaving the conversation back and looking at the door. Gideon was there, red because of the running he did to arrive to Hotch's office before he could sent the boy away.

"Agent Gideon?", asked Hotch, who always used "agent" before the name of the person when they were close to other people, no matter how friends they were. "I thought you were on vacations". A look of hope appeared at Reid's eyes. On his turn, Hotch made a look that let evident how he hated when someone entered his office without knocking first. Of course, Jason, being the best profiler the FBI has ever had, knew it.

"Sorry for entering here without asking, but I was afraid that Dr. Reid couldn't explain well". He gave a little smile and let the bomb falls: "I've just hired him, Hotch. Remember when you told me that the team needed new agents? So, Dr. Reid concluded the course in the FBI with honors, but was undecided about which department to choose. I met him and, well, you'll see how intelligent he is. It's not forever, it's just a test. If he gets it well, we can accept him as a formed member".

Dr. Reid smiled and looked at Hotch, who was confused about what to do. Yes, he said the team wanted new members, but Gideon didn't have the right to go hiring everyone that crossed his way just because the person was intelligent. Hotch was the leader of the team, he was the one who decided who to hire and who to fire. Gideon could be the founder of the BAU, its best profiler, but he agreed to be under Hotchner's orders after the "breakdown" he had.

"Well… Agent Gideon, being my subordinate, you should have told me about yours

plans towards…" for God's sake, he would say "this kid". "… Towards Dr. Reid, I mean, I am discovering it only now".

"I'm really sorry, I've just come back to my accommodation, and I spoke about it to Dr. Reid after going there. In this period, I'm pretty sure that Dr. Reid did all the tests that are usual, am I right?"

"Yes, you are right", said Reid, still nervous, showing to Hotch an envelope he had under his arm. "I have already made all the psychological tests. I'm ready to go".

Aaron began to read carefully to the card of this boy for whom Gideon showed so much confidence. He read that this Dr. Reid had eidetic memory, an IQ of 187 and the ability to read 20,000 per minute, besides three PhDs – Chemistry, Mathematics and Engineering.

"Wow", thought Hotch. "All these abilities can really help the FBI".

But… Reid was so young, and… Hotch felt a mix of humor and guilty when thought that he was a person who seemed to be _weak_. Hotch wasn't the type who goes judging people by their appearance, but that red blouse was too much. The place that boy belonged was certainly his mommy's house or the school, not the FBI. If Hotch accepted him as a member, nobody in the team would facility Reid's life: the little doctor would have to see crime scenes photos, would have to visit crime scenes around the country, talk with serial killers, carry a gun, and, if necessary, he would have to kill people. Would he be capable of doing all this stuffs?

On the other hand, Hotch remembered the day he accepted Garcia in the team. Hotch didn't trust her, she was a hacker and dressed like… Like… Like a crazy lady wanting to be a young teenager, with all her flowers on the hair and dresses with cats pictures. And she called Hotch "my big boss" one hour after her contraction. But, three years after it, Garcia had already begun to receive all the respect and affection she deserved from them. Would the same happen with Reid, or there was a possibility that he revel himself as an asshole?

And there was Gideon in all this mess. He was Hotch's mentor and the best profiler, was him who called Hotch to be in the BAU. And was Gideon who was helping Hotch to make his way upon his biggest dream: be the director of all the FBI, not only in the BAU. Hotch owed him a lot of things.

"Look, Dr. Reid" Hotch said. "Do you know what we do in the BAU? Do you know what you will have to do if you're accepted as a member?"

"Yes, sir, I'm aware. The BAU was created by David Rossi and Jason Gideon in 1966. We make the profile of the criminal using all the psychologist aspects of the crime itself, and…"

Realizing that Reid was about to make a speech on the history of the BAU, Hotch cut him off by saying that they could make a test. They were with a case in their hands, a case involving three girls dead in Alabama, and Reid would go with them to help and prove that he deserved to be a profiler.

A grin of happiness appeared in Reid's face as he thanked Hotch and walked to the desks of the office, knowing that he would have to do his best to sit in one of them. Then, when he was out, Gideon closed the door and smiled at Hotch, who crossed his arms around his chest, waiting for explanations. Hotch had 45 years in 2005, at the same time Gideon was 55. Aaron had been a BAU agent since he was 40 years, and the marks this job would leave him weren't there yet. Yes, because there would be a time in which he will smile less, in which he will stop trusting in humanity, in which he will begin to see everyone around him as or an enemy or an instrument to do justice in the world, and, with it, appease the feeling of inferiority he had always hidden in his heart. And this time would come to it's apex in 2007, when his best friend and lover, Reid, would almost die in front of him. But, of course, none of them knew it.

"So" Hotch said, looking in Gideon's eyes. "Can you explain this joke to me, please?"

"It's not a joke" said Gideon, putting his hands in his waist. "I want Dr. Reid to be a member of the team"

"You want it, doesn't mean you'll get it" said Hotch, with more anger in his voice than he intended. "I am the leader, Gideon. I decide how things are going to work in this department. I don't even know that guy, for God's sake, we have a case right now and you want to send him there just to see how he's going to deal with it? It's insane, Gideon".

"It's not insane. You don't know him now, but you will. He is discrete, humble, dedicate and extremely intelligent, you read it on his envelope" And, after a pause, in which Hotch capriciously raised the eyebrow while turning his head in his best expression of: "it doesn't guarantee anything", Jason completed: "I trust that he'll do a good work"

"Then" Hotch walked to his desk and took the crime scene photos, casting them to Gideon, who didn't let them fall on the ground barely. "You're responsible for him now. If that kid makes any mistakes, you'll be the one to blame"

Gideon did not seem intimidated.

"I stand by his actions and by mine. Only in this case, that will determine if he keeps with us or not. And…" he gave a manic smile, and, if Hotch didn't know him, he would tell that it was the smile of a suicidal about to jump to his most wished joy: death. "… If you decide that he is not able to be on the BAU, we both will be out"

This time, Hotch became truly shocked.

"What are you saying? You'll put your hands in the fire because of him?" seeing that Gideon continued with his smile, Hotch lower his defenses. "You're the best profiler we always had, Gideon. If you're out, we can't continue solving the cases"

"Stop with this silly inferiority of yours!" exclaimed Gideon, happily, including that he was right about every thought of his own place in that machine that was the BAU and about Hotch's emotions. He was right in his observations, as usual. "I won't go out because Dr. Reid will prove how good he is"

Hotch didn't know what to say or do, and called for the case.

"It's ok, Gideon. If you want to hire yourself, do it. But now we have a case to solve" and walked out to his office, walking downstairs and finding JJ in his way.

"Agent Jareau" he wasn't in the mood to call the blond "JJ", like he always does. "Call the team now. We're going to Alabama"

"Yes, sir, but…" she said, her voice holding Hotch's anxiety in the stair. "… Do you know about that new member of ours, Doctor…? What's his name, by the way? Doctor…"

"Doctor Spencer Reid" corrected Hotch. "Yes, I'm sure you saw him. He'll make a test in this case, if he gets it well, we'll accept him".

"A new member?" said JJ, suspicious.

Hotch didn't want to demonstrate that he was more concerned and suspicious than her, so he just said:

"It's not important, JJ. Think of him as a help that we'll have, only in this case".

"Does Gideon know?" a female voice asked and JJ and Hotch turned their heads to the top of the stair, where Elle was stood, looking at them.

"Yes, he does" answered Hotch.

"Does he trust him?" asked Elle.

Hotch sighed before saying:

"Unfortunately, yes".

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_"Lov__e is like war: easy to start, hard to stop"  
__– Ninon de Lenclos, French writer. _


	2. My First Case  1

_There is no love without courage and no courage without love – Rollo May, American psychologist._

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Elle and JJ shared looks with each others, looks of worry, before following Hotch to the BAU's room. Morgan was there with Reid, talking. Morgan has always been the most "social" member of the team, having a thing that made people trusts him in the first impression. And, with Reid, it won't be different: Morgan and Reid would become friends as the years passed by; being Morgan the first person to realize the feelings between Hotch and Reid, seven years after their first meeting.

"So", said Hotch, seriously. "I can see that you have just met Agent Morgan, our specialist in obsessive crimes. Now, let's have a sit".

All of them did it, and Reid's eyes were running from Hotch to JJ and Elle, who were smiling to him. Spencer truly wanted to be in the BAU, he felt prepared. But, then, he saw Hotch sitting down and doesn't looking or smiling at him, and thought about that. Hotch seemed to be so cold, but Reid wouldn't let it bring him down.

"Is Agent Gideon coming?", he asked, shy.

"I'm already here", Jason entered and sat near to Reid, putting the crime scenes photos on the desk.

Then, Hotch explained the case to them while JJ moved the images in the TV they had: the first body, Lila Dellaway, 17 years and a shot in the head. In her belly, there was a message made with a knife: "I love you". The second body, Eliza Mays, 16 years and a shot in the chest. In her leg, there was a message made with a knife, too, but, this time, it was: "You're beautiful". Finally, the third body, Sarah Jackson, 17 years and a shot in her head. As the others crimes, there was a message in Sarah's back: "You're the love of my life". The bodies were found each for a different person, all two weeks apart, in the same alley.

Reid was paying attention to every word he was listening to, but a female voice suddenly filled the office, coming from a computer that was right in front of Reid. He looked at it and saw a blonde and fat woman in the camera, speaking to them, dressing what seemed to be a pink dress with the phrase "Bad Girl" made in brightness and a loop with a skull using makeup. She smiled and began to tell:

"Hello, friends! I've just made the connection between the girls, and…", then, she noticed Reid, in the other side of the camera, and raised an eyebrow.

"Hey, hey. Who's our new buddy?", she asked, and only then Reid realized that he was speaking with that girl by the camera. He didn't know what to response when Gideon saved Reid's day again:

"Hi, Garcia" and turning to Spencer: "Dr. Reid, this is our Technical Analyst, Penelope Garcia. Garcia, this is Dr. Spencer Reid, 20 years old and three PhDs in his pockets. He will help us in this case".

Reid, with his face turning red by shame, smiled tentatively.

"Good morning, Garcia", he said. The blonde laughed, thinking about how pretty and nerd his new friend was.

"You're a cute, haven't anyone told you that?" she said, openly.

Reid blushed and smiled. Morgan laughed too, he knew Garcia better than anyone and was used to her funny ways to be. He was sure that he, Garcia and Reid, who had created a protective instinct in Morgan, like he was his younger brother, could make a great gang. Elle and JJ smiled to each other, providing that Reid was a good boy and that he could make born several funny situations, especially after Gideon's breakdown and Hotch's ascension from the leadership, thing that have made the "mood" in the team purchase a shade of emotional discomfort. They knew that Reid would soon discover the type of boss that Hotch was. Talking about him, Aaron was the only one who didn't find any grace or empathy for Reid and his meeting with Garcia. The happy look that was in Jason's face disappeared when he put it at Hotch's expression. In that second, Gideon noticed that Hotch didn't like Reid, and it would be hard to make him sympathize with him.

However, what the Gideon's abilities, that have helped them to solve so many crimes, could not prevent was that would be a time in which Reid would be the most important thing in Hotch's life; a time in which Aaron's life would be divided in two parts: the darkness of his job, that was taking over him, and the lightness, represented by Reid. The problem was that Reid was doing the same job as him, so he would learn to deal with all those terrible crimes and the people's cruelty to be near to Reid, and this hard decision would make him almost sick and perturbed.

Much more perturbed than he himself was now, realizing how the others were happily talking to each other while he was there, mute, just looking: Gideon praising Reid to Garcia, who was truly impressed with all Spencer's knowledge; Morgan advising his new friend to keep distance from Garcia, because she was a "crazy and wonderful woman who will make you be in love with her, almost like I am now"; and Elle and JJ just smiling and telling to Reid that he could ask anything to them, when he needed help. The two women sympathized to Reid the first moment they saw him. And the boy genius was there, too, smiling and thanking them. While Hotch was there, sat, mute and with his serious look that have always put fear in his subordinates. But it seemed to be not working now, and it was driving Hotch crazy. They had a hard case in hands, so why weren't they looking at him and talking about the case? Why that fucking boy was so special?

"Excuse me", he said, wroth because the lack of responsibility from his colleagues. "We have a case here, and you can talk later".

"Of course" said Reid, back to reality, like all of them.

Then, they began to discuss the case.

"So, Garcia, what connection did you say you find?", asked Elle.

"Well, pretty, our girls, Eliza, Lila and Sarah were students in the same school, the St. Peter's School. And the alley where they were found is near to the school".

"Hum" made Gideon. "Interesting. We'll have to visit this school, then".

"Of course" said Hotch. "But, what about the messages in the girl's bodies?"

"They're love messages" said Morgan. "But it doesn't make sense. When you love a person, you don't kill the person".

"Yes, but…" said Reid, and all the attentions turned back to him, who was talking professionally by the first time: "What if the criminal didn't want to say those messages for them? What if he is talking about someone else? In Sarah's body, 'you're the love of my life', for example. It's very personal. How can we know if the criminal knew them or no?"

"The position of the body can tell us, Dr. Reid", answered Gideon, realizing that Reid could be high intelligent, but he had several things to learn about criminology. However, when Gideon said "position", Reid remembered of what he read in criminology books he bought:

"If the body is lying face down, it shows remorse because the criminal didn't want to look in the victim's eyes. But the three bodies were in the other position; face up, what tell us that the criminal didn't know them".

He saw that Elle and Morgan were smiling to him while JJ was looking to the crime scene photos. Reid was wondering if he had told some kind of nonsense thing, but they were smiling because he was right, and Jason confirmed it.

"You're right, Dr. Reid".

The genius smiled and Hotch felt the angry in his heart growing up. "Finicky boy, just because you got that right, doesn't mean you're the one" he thought before saying:

"Or, maybe, he knew the victims but didn't like them".

Reid looked at him with admiration. He had not thought about it, it was obvious. Gideon noticed what Hotch was trying to do, he was trying to humiliate Reid, and Jason would not allow it.

"And what about the messages?", asked Gideon, launching the dices again.

"We can think a lot of things about it", said Morgan. "He can know them and didn't like them, but, if he didn't like them, then why putting love messages in their bodies? If he knew them and liked them, he can be an extremely possessive person who wanted the girls to be his, and then killed them so they couldn't be with anyone else, what can explain the messages…"

"Or", said Reid, without stop thinking. "He can know them or he can not know them, the girls, but, what if those messages weren't made for them? What if he didn't think that Eliza is beautiful, and yes someone else?"

It was a complex thing to understand, and Hotch tried.

"So, Dr. Reid", he caused. "Are you trying to tell that the criminal is killing people because he is involved with someone else?". He gave a little and sadistic smile. "Sorry, but it doesn't make any sense, Doctor".

Reid's hands trembled and he sighed. "My first fail" he thought, but Gideon was there.

"No, Hotch, it's possible. We can think that the criminal is a man who is involved with someone he doesn't like anymore. He hates the person he is with and kills girls who are like this other people. Or he is killing girls that remind him of his ex-girlfriend or wife". Then, he spoke to Garcia: "Garcia, see in the school site if there are photos of Eliza, Sarah and Lila. Let's see if they have something in common".

Reid looked at Jason with relief and Hotch wanted to kill someone when Garcia said:

"No", she said, hopeless. "Eliza was tall and blond, curly hair; Lila was short and redhead, with freckles and smooth hair. And Lila had medium size and brown hair. They had nothing in common, physically; even the colors of their eyes are different".

Gideon bit his own lips.

"Look at their ages, Gideon", said Elle, impatient like she always was. "If the theory that it's a man killing girl who reminds him of someone, this someone couldn't be his wife, because they're too young. What if the criminal isn't a man, but a teenager like them?"

"So we are right that he is man killing to stop remembering?", asked JJ, confused.

They all sighed, lost in their minds.

"Well", said Hotch, finally. "We're right about one ting: we must go there and talk with their families and friends from school".

"Let's go, so" agreed Morgan and Gideon, while everyone was standing up.

"Good travel!" wished Garcia.

"How are we going to go there?" asked Reid, who was the newbie.

"By plane" informed JJ, smiling.

"Plane? Do you guys have a plane?". He didn't want to ask: "Do we have?" because it would include him himself, who did not want to make them think that he was thinking that he was already a member. "Humble", he remembered to himself. "You're under their judgment, now. Humble".

"Yes, we have" said Morgan, while Hotch was already out of the office, worried about all those things: he being the leader of a team that he may could not control well, Gideon doing things that weren't suppose to be done by him, and that boy who was poking him slowly. He was sure he did not like him, his way to be, his awful and strange voice snoring in his ears. "What if the criminal knew them…?" and "Do you guys have a plane?" were devastating him. Reid was an intruder; he wasn't welcome there, for Hotch.

Of course, the leader did not know that, at the same time that Reid was poking him slowly, Reid would slowly become a member of the family that the BAU was. More than that, Reid will become a member of Hotch's family, the only family he will get after his divorce with his future wife and now fiancée Hayley. Aaron did not have ways to know, but Reid would slowly become the only person he could truly trust when his own world will become a place infested by serial killers, blood of innocent persons and murders.

Murders like this that they were going to solve. Reid learned that, now, all the team members, except by Garcia, would go to their homes and do theirs handbags. They would travel to Montgomery by place and the FBI would pay their stay in a hotel that the FBI itself would choose. Of course, it was a good hotel. There they would stay until solve the case. The FBI usually gave them a term of one month of work. If they do not solve the case in a month, would fly back to Virginia. Reid has not had a car yet, so he received ride from Gideon. Reid had just graduated from his last course in Nevada and was newly arrived in Quantico, living in a rented apartment. They began to talk during the ride.

"So? How are you?" Jason asked, assured that Reid was or too nervous or too excited.

"Well… I have a feeling that I will have to do my best, because they are so good!". He said, and they laughed.

"Yes, yes…" Jason said, feeling pride to be a part of the BAU. "…We are the elite of the FBI, Reid. And soon you'll be a part of our team" he said, happily.

This time, Reid contracted his lips.

"I'm not that sure, Gideon. I mean, look at me and look at them. Anyone can see how sufficiency they are. This is the first time in my life that I'm out of any type of school or university. It's my first real experience; I don't even know how to make my handbag because I have never traveled so fast and so far from my house like that. And…"

Jason sighed and thought: "How can someone as intelligent as Reid be insecure?" Reid continued:

"…And you saw how Hotchner looked at me. He must be thinking that I'm just a finicky boy right now".

"Hotch, Hotch, always Hotch" thought Jason, a little bit disappointed. He had put so many trusts in Reid; he could at last pretend that he is confident. The oldest profiler made for the first time a connection between Hotch and Reid: while Hotch thought that he needed to be the best profiler of all the FBI, while the leader of the BAU used to think that his life would be destroyed if he couldn't solve all the cases, Reid, by the other hand, didn't even think that he needed to be something because he thought that no one was going to need him or ask him to do anything. Hotch thought that the others were thinking that he was useless and that's why Hotch has always been so aggressive and serious: he wanted to prove that he wasn't as useless as the others supposed thought he was. And Reid thought that he was useless anyway and that the others were thinking it, too. Hotch did not like Reid because the way he entered in the team, and Gideon had his part to blame, too. If he had told Hotch about Reid first, maybe Hotch could accept him better. Jason knew that he had invaded Hotch's sense of control and sufficiency the same way he entered in his office without asking first.

"How can I open their eyes?" thought Gideon. But how can someone drive while making profilers?

"Gideon! The traffic light has just changed!" shouted Reid, making Gideon come back to reality and realize that he was about to keep driving in the red traffic light. He almost trampled a child that was walking throw the crosswalk.

When they brutally stopped, Reid looked at him with no more than fear in the eyes:

"Damn! What happened with you?"

Gideon could not control his innate don to be a psychologist specialist in criminal psychology; he would never be able to do it. And now he has just made a profiler of two people near to him, breaking one of the rules of the BAU: profilers must not do profilers of each other.

"Nothing, Reid, I'm sorry. I began to think about some things and…" he looked to the traffic light, which has changed, and began to drive. Seeing that Reid was more relaxed and wanting to break the silence, Jason told him to not be worry about Hotch, he was just a man trying to pass the image of a "badass", but he truly liked each person in the team. However, noticing that Reid became more uncomfortable hearing it, one thought crossed Gideon's mind: what if Hotch resolved that Reid was not good enough to be in the BAU and because of it him and Gideon would have to leave them? Gideon knew that Reid had potential, but can he make him realize it?

"Dr. Reid" he said. "As you yourself said, look at you. You're a genius who formed with honor in the FBI's training. What's the problem that you are the youngest in the team? What's the problem that you don't have the physical type to go here and there carrying a gun and being intimidating? We don't need these things to do our work here, as you'll see. We don't need guns or anything else instead of our intelligence and it's a thing that you have, Reid. Wanting or no, you can do a lot of good things in your life and career. About Hotch, just stay as you are and time will tell us what is going to happen in this case. Just stay as you are, Reid, be yourself and do your best. I'm sure you can do it".

They arrived to Reid's apartment and Gideon promised to wait Reid to do his handbags. Reid looked at Gideon's smile and thought that he has never had a true father in his life, but, now, he may have found one. And, for one moment, Reid believed in each word the other agent had said.

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**Chapter 2 is going to continue -**

**The Best Things in Life - Chapter 2, Part 1  
"My First Case"**

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	3. My First Case 2

**The Best Things in Life - Cahpter 2, Part 2  
"My First Case"**

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In the plane to Alabama, cold days were going on, so Reid changed his clothes before entering in the plane: a shirt with a jersey and a jacket above. One part of him was afraid, but the other wasn't because he knew that Jason would be there with them.

Reid sat down in front of a table, with Morgan and Elle right in front of him. They smiled at each other. Gideon and JJ were in others chairs, near to theirs. Hotch was the last person to enter in the plane, and, to make Reid get more fear, the leader sat by his side. Reid looked at him with an expression that could be: "It won't end up well for anyone" and got petrified there before and after looking to the crime scenes photos that were there. Hotch did not look at him or greed him, he just relaxed in the chair and began to talk about the case. Reid could hear the sound of Hotch's voice near to him, entering in his ears, and he found it extremely fierce. Hotch was carrying the laptop in which Reid first saw Garcia, and he opened it, revealing the fat woman again.

"Heya buddies. What can I do for you?". Her voice calmed Reid, but not too much.

"Tell us about their school, baby girl", said Morgan.

"Ok. Well, St. Peter's School was a particular school, but Eliza, Lila and Sarah weren't born in rich families. Lila and Eliza were considered excellent students, but Sarah failed a grade. The principal of the school is a man called Mark Kenneth, who isn't booked".

"And what about their families?" asked Gideon and JJ at the same time.

"Let's see…" Garcia typed some words in her computer and get the information in less than 5 minutes: "Lila's parents are teachers and she didn't have brothers or sisters; Sarah lived with her grandparents, who were retired, and her grandmother died by heart attack when she heard about her death; in the end, Eliza's father is the owner of a store and her mother is a lawyer".

Elle was writing everything that Garcia was talking in a piece of paper.

"Thanks, Garcia" thanked Hotch, and, then, her voice and face disappeared from the camera.

The team was wandering in three options: the criminal knew them and liked them, being, with it, extremely possessive and jealous, possibly paranoid. It can explain the messages but not the fact that the bodies were faced up; the criminal knew them and did not like them, so he killed the girls, but it does not explain the messages; the criminal did not knew them and killed because they remembered someone from his life, ex-wife or girlfriend, however Elle thought that it could be a teenager, and, with it, Reid's theory could be right, that the criminal were leaving the messages for other person, not for Eliza, Sarah and Lila.

Reid's heart was beating faster and faster as Hotch's words filled the plane, he was talking too much… Hotch was making Reid felt suffocate and he tried to move when, consciously, Hotch touched his own shoulder at Reid's, only to see how the little boy was going to react. And he became happy to see that he wasn't intimidating at all. Hotch was still in the control of the situation, and it will be easy to fire Reid after the case. He was still an intruder, but an intruder who was easy to control. He would find a way to make Gideon give up his suicidal plan and stay on the team while Reid would go to another department in the FBI. Gideon, by his hands, knew how Hotch was playing this game, and he wanted two things in this game: to show Hotch that he did not need to prove anything to anyone and that nobody was seeing him as a useless man. And, the other: wanted to put Dr. Reid in the team, anyway. And it was happening because Gideon had never seen someone as young and intelligent as him. The oldest profiler knew that this time to retirement was near, and he was the best. He wanted a successor for him. His successor could not be Morgan because of him impulsivity; could not be Elle because of her extreme feminism, which has made her accused only men several times; could not be JJ or Garcia because they weren't profilers. And couldn't be Hotch because he had other dreams: be the leader of the FBI. And Jason was sure he'll make it come true. But Reid was perfect, completely. Gideon looked like him in his early years and Spencer remembered so much of Stephen, Gideon's truly son that had severed relations with him years and years ago.

Reid did not know about Gideon's and Hotch's intentions towards himself, he was with four feelings in his heart: fear from Hotch, trust in Gideon, fear that he could not do it well and trust that he was going to do it well. Spencer looked at the window by his side and saw anything but white clouds turning grey as the place was near to Montgomery, and felt butterflies in his stomach. Reid thought about his mom, locked in that hospital in which she had been put by her own son, and about his truly father, who abandoned them to live as a business man, like they didn't exist. He sighed and moved closer and closer to the window, wanting to keep distance from Hotch and his shoulder.

After two hours discussing the case, Morgan put his phones and began to listen to his favorite musical gender, rock; JJ kept looking to the clouds while Elle read her book about the life of Emma Goldman, American feminist and anarchist; and Reid wanted to talk to Gideon, but Hotch settled his chair and began to sleep comfortably, making Reid unable to stand up, and the boy would not be so courageous to wake Hotch up to ask him to let him walk. Gideon guessed that Hotch was sleeping or pretending to be sleeping on purpose, only to keep Reid static near to him. By the first time, Jason realized all the tension that was running towards them, and thought that it was going to be difficult to make them get along well. Reid, knowing that he would have to be there by two hours, just kept quiet and avoided looking to anyone or anything except the ground, the ceiling and the clouds that appeared and disappeared as fast as the thoughts in his prodigal mind.

When they arrived to Alabama, it was 5 P.M. The FBI sent them to a 5 Stars Hotel called Montgomery's House and each of them would have individual rooms. Reid was amazed by all those efficiency and quality and, after putting his handbags there, Reid went with the team to the Police Department of Montgomery. The sheriff, a young man called Henry Summers, received them with hope.

"This is the strangest case we have ever had" he said, looking miserable: "Three young girls found dead with love messages in her bodies, all of the same school. We really need your help, guys".

"It's always a pleasure to help" said Hotch, diplomatic: "And how is the school going? Are the others parents worried?"

"Very much" answered Henry. "St. Peter's School had 1,400 students before the crimes. Now, three weeks later, it has 1,000. The situation is very bad".

"And what about the crime scene?" asked Morgan. "Can we see it yet?"

"Well, Lila's and Eliza's bodies are already buried, but Sarah's one is still there".

Then, Hotch turned and looked to his team.

"Morgan and I are going to see the crime scenes. Gideon and Elle are going to talk to the school. JJ, you're going to be here in the case the killer try some kind of contact with the media".

Realizing that he wasn't included, Reid tentatively said:

"And what can I do, Sir?"

Hotch hasn't talked about it on purpose. Then, he looked at Reid with disdain.

"Wow, here are you. Dr. Reid, you can stay here with JJ".

"But then how am I going to show what I can do?" thought Reid, upset. And, one more time, Gideon went to rescue his future successor.

"With all the respect, Hotch, I disagree. I think that Dr. Reid can talk with the victims with Elle and I. JJ is our specialist in media, she can do it by herself".

JJ and Elle noticed that Jason was trying to help Reid and agreed. Morgan smiled to Reid, to encourage, and the newbie just smiled respectfully, showing that he would be glad if Gideon's plan happened.

Hotch, seeing that everyone was against his plans to put Reid down, could not do anything more than nodding with his head and saying, feeling that he was losing the control of the BAU to Gideon and his fantasies about putting Reid in the game they played every day with this job:

"Ok, then. Elle, Gideon and Dr. Reid are going to talk to the school of the victims. And tomorrow you are going to talk to their families, too".

"We'll do it" guaranteed Elle as they walked out to the Police Department. While the three agents were entering in a police car, they saw Morgan and Hotch entering in the other car and JJ standing in the door of the Department, smiling to them. Gideon was driving their car and Elle sat in the backseat.

In Morgan and Hotch's car, the first was driving and was crazy to talk to Hotch about their newbie colleague.

"What do you think of Reid, Hotch?", he asked openly.

The leader kept looking to the people going back to their homes in the end of the day. He did not want to talk about him now, but had to. He knew how insistent Morgan could be.

"I don't think anything about it", he said, coldly. "He is just a person that will help us in this case".

Morgan looked to Hotch quickly when the traffic light became red.

"It's more than that, right?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean that it's not only in this case. He'll stay with us, Gideon wants it".

"No", said Hotch, looking at him angrily. "I am the leader here, I decide it".

"Whoa, whoa" made Morgan, turning to the drive, making funny with Hotch's aggressiveness. "That's ok, big boss. You decide. But…" he gave a little laugh before completing: "…The kid is good, you have to admit it".

"What are all of you seeing on him?" asked Hotch. "I beg that he can't kill a cockroach by himself".

Morgan just laughed again and they drove in silence until the crime scene. Arriving there, they saw two legists taking the body away. Morgan and Hotch ran there and showed their credentials.

"Aaron Hotchner, Unit Chief of the Behavioral Analysis Unit, FBI. Don't take the body right now, let us see it", he said. The legists got ashamed and put the body on the ground again, leaving Hotch and Morgan alone with Sarah Jackson, 17 years. She was wearing a white sweater and jeans. There was a red mark in her head and frozen blood coming from it. Morgan and Hotch asked the legist to move Sarah's body so they could see her back. The sweater was torn and there was the message in frozen blood: "You're the love of my life". Sarah's eyes were opened in terror.

"Look at the message, Hotch" said Morgan. He was right; the message in Sarah's back was very deep, the criminal really wanted the message to not disappear.

"It would take time" opined Hotch. "At what time the others girls were killed?" asked him to the legists. The short and bald doctor came to them and answered.

"Eliza was found at eight o'clock and was dead two hours sooner. The same goes for Lila".

"So they were killed while leaving the school. But why nobody listened to the shoots?"

Hotch looked at the street: it was a commercial street, nobody lived there and in Montgomery the stores closed at five o'clock. But it does not explain why the others students did not do anything when they were killed.

Hotch thanked the legist, and, while Morgan was talking to the legist about the gun used, the leader made a call to JJ.

"Agent Jareau speaking" she said.

"JJ, its Hotch. Ask Garcia to see if something was happening in the school in the days they were killed. It's strange that nobody heard the shoots".

"I got it" she said, cutting the call off. Hotch walked back to the legist and heard when he said that he believed to be a revolver what killed them.

"It's ok, but how can I attract a teenager to this alley?" Morgan made this question. Then, Hotch's cell phone called.

"Hotch, it is JJ", she said.

"Did Garcia get that?", he asked.

"As usual. Hotch, you are right: the school is passing by the Olympics Games. In the days of the murders, all the students were watching the games between other students. And, for what Garcia saw, the Gym is set in the backs of the school, far away from the alley. Being in a locked Gym with all the noises from the games and others students, it's not surprising that nobody heard anything".

Things were beginning to get clear.

"I understood. Thanks, girls" Hotch said, cutting the call off.

"So?" asked Morgan.

Hotch explained the situation and Derek began to do his own way to investigate: making the criminal.

"Well, everyone was watching games, but not our three girls. They took advantage from the situation and skipped the games. Why? Someone or something attracted them to this alley. Or they hated games and simply did not want to watch or they had something more interesting to do in this alley".

"Yes, but knowing that Eliza and Lila were considered excellent students, it's hard to believe that they would skip something that comes from their school".

"But let's think that they skipped the classes" insisted Morgan. "They walked away from school and found the criminal in this street. Victims of a fatality. Who's our guy? If he's a pedophile or a necrophile, he would have raped them after or before killing them, but the girls were not raped".

"Yes, you're right…" said Hotch, confused. "Anyway" he said, making another call. "I'll ask Garcia to see all the sexual offenders in Montgomery for the last five years".

He did it, and then they looked to themselves, knowing that their job was made. Now they'd have to wait and see if something good would came from Gideon's interview with the school. Talking about it, Hotch realized that he had forgotten to talk to the old profiler about asking when the next game will be realized.

In Gideon's, Elle's and Reid's car, which was near from the school, they were talking about the messages in the girl's bodies. Reid was feeling more comfortable without Hotch's presence.

"I keep thinking that it's not a message for the girls, and yes for another person".

"I think it, too. And I beg my legs that the criminal is a teenager like them" opined Elle.

"If the criminal is a teenager, he probably studies in the same school as them. And we can't close our eyes to the chance that the criminal can be a girl, too".

"But, if it's a girl, it doesn't explain the messages. Thinking that it's a girl killing another girl, and sending the message from a boyfriend, for example, she should have to write: 'you're handsome', instead of 'you're beautiful'".

"Yes…" said Gideon and Elle at the same time.

Then, Reid felt that Gideon's cell phone was calling.

"Can you speak for me, Dr. Reid, please? Driving and talking on the phone at the same time is dangerous".

"Of course". The kid took the phone.

"Hi, who's talking?"

Hotch's voice came.

"Gideon, it's you?"

"Reid tried to keep calm".

"No, Agent Hotchner, it's me, Dr. Reid. Agent Gideon is driving right now".

"Ah", said Hotch, conformed. "So, can you please ask the principal of the school when are the others games going to be played? This school is in the Olympic Games, and the three victims were killed in these days, when everyone else was watching the games. We are afraid that the criminal returns to kill in the next Olympic Game" said Hotch, quickly. Reid got impressed and was going to ask Hotch how did he get all these information, but he noticed that Hotch did not want to talk to him and kept quiet.

"It's ok, Sir, we're going to do it".

"Thank you, Doctor" and then Hotch cut it off at the same time that St. Peter's School appeared in front of them.

"What did Hotch want?" asked Elle, and Reid explained the situation.

"The school is closed, now, but JJ said that she would call the principal and some teachers to speak with us – informed Gideon, letting Reid more and more impressed about how things work in a place like the FBI. He truly wanted to be a part of the BAU, more than anything. It was what he liked, or what he thought he liked: the perfect equilibrium between the psychology's sophistication and the action that was normal in any police department. He smiled to himself while they entered in the school, which was big and clean, with the American flag everywhere. In the corridor, the first person they saw was the principal Mark Kenneth, a thin man with a sad expression behind his glasses.

* * *

**This chapter is not over yet -**


	4. My First Case 3

**The Best Things in Life - Chapter 2, Part 3  
"My First Case"**

* * *

"Good evening" they shook hands and Mark went, with them, to a room where four teachers were sat. The room had several painting in its walls.

Mark presented the teacher, all women – a Math's one, English's, Science's and History's one.

And then a real interrogation began, with Gideon making lots of questions that allowed them to find out many things about the three girls: Eliza and Lila were good students with a lot of friends, despite the fact that Lila was shyer than the other girl.

"Did they have any kind of disagreement with other student?" asked Reid.

This time, the four teachers seemed to remember something.

"Well…" the Science's one, the youngest in the group, said. "… It was not Eliza's and Lila's fault. But there is a girl named Erin Foley, who didn't like Eliza because of her beauty and Lila because of her intelligence. Erin spent days and days trying to let them down".

"Erin Foley is the name of this girl?" asked Elle, writing everything she was hearing in other piece of paper.

"Yes. She is a trouble-girl. Everyone in this school knows that her father left her to escape with another woman and Erin lived only with her mother, Mary Foley, a policewoman" said the Math's teacher. "But her worst enemy was Sarah. Sarah was born in a poor family, she was here because of a scholarship, and was about to lose it, thanks to her intellectual difficulties. Sarah was not very intelligent; she had already failed a grade and was going to fail in another".

"Just like Erin. She could be in college right now, but she's 18 years old and is on the last year of High School. She is not the 'nerd' type" said the principal. The Math's teacher continued:

"Sarah had a good comportment, but she and Erin had some fights… They looked like two animals trying to kill each other in the middle of the courtyard".

"How was she after the deaths?" asked Reid, more and more curious, thinking about the possibility of Erin being a suspect.

"She was happy" said the History's teacher. "She said that they deserved to die".

Elle and Reid looked at each other, shocked with they heard. But Gideon seemed to be calm. The old agent explained about the Olympic Games and their worry about the next day of Games and others victims. The youngest teacher put a hand in her heart, apprehensively.

"_Tomorrow_ will be realized the next game, a basketball one".

"Cancel it now, we can not take that risk before having a complete profiler" said Jason.

"We'll do it" said Mark, before completing that, as tomorrow will be a class day, it will be easy to enter in the classes and tell the students about the cancellation. Now, the students would be not only afraid, but disappointed, too.

-.-

Morgan and Hotch entered in the Montgomery Police Department, where they would stay until 8 A.M, as the three others. They met each other in the principal door and walked to JJ, talking about what they had discovered. The blonde was sitting in a desk in a special room that the Police had left for them, with a big blackboard there. They all went there and Hotch began to write what they had. When Aaron heard about Erin Foley, he had the impression that she could know something about the case.

"Well, we know that there was a gap, the Olympic Games. Lucky for us that they will cancel the basketball game tomorrow" said Hotch.

"But, at the same time, we can let the Games happen and send agents there, so they can look after them and see if someone is trying to escape. It's weird to imagine that all of them wanted to stay out from school exactly at the same event and time. The criminal knows what is happening in the school, or they could not have met" opined Morgan.

"I still think that it's a student. It could be Erin, if she was not a girl" Elle said.

"But the fact that Erin hated the three victims and became happy when they were killed is a thing that we can't ignore" said JJ, who, though not a profiler, liked to gave her guesses, occasionally.

"We'll have to interrogate this girl" said Gideon before looking at Reid. "Can you do it for us, Doctor?"

Reid got surprised, noticing how trust Gideon had on him.

"Yes, of course".

"So, let's call Garcia. She can tell us Erin Foley's address" said Hotch, and JJ opened the team's laptop.

"Office of Supreme Genius calling, what I can do?" sang Garcia, smiling.

Hotch sighed. He had not been used with Garcia yet.

"We think we have a suspect. What can you tell us about Mary Foley and her daughter, Erin Foley?"

Garcia did her magic and in 4 seconds they had their address. But Reid did not want to go there alone.

"Can you go with me, Agent Gideon?" he asked with no shame. Gideon contracted his lips and was about to answer yes, but wanting Reid to do it alone, when Hotch realized how he himself wanted to see what Reid was doing in the case. So, the leader answered first:

"I can go with you, Dr. Reid. Don't you care?"

Reid looked at him by the first time with no fear, but determination. If he wanted to be a part of the BAU, he would have to learn how to live with them. He could not work there having fear for his boss and entering under Gideon's wings all time.

"No, Agent Hotchner, I don't care".

Gideon gave a little smile. It would be easier for everyone if they resolved their differences working together and seeing that everyone is important in the BAU, because all of them did a different thing there. Reid could not be as strong or as respectful as Morgan and Hotch, but neither the Chicago native nor the temperamental leader could be as intelligent as the young Doctor.

"Let's go, then" said Hotch, and they both entered in the police car. Hotch was driving and Reid wasn't in the seatback. Reid decided that was time to talk.

"Hotchner, what do you think?"

For the first second, Hotch thought that he was asking what he was thinking about Reid trying to be in the team. He knew that saying something like, "I don't think that you're going to be with us" or "It will not work well" would be very impolite, but he had to say something, something that would not demonstrate what he was really thinking. That Reid was disturbing everything, their work, his control of the team and… Himself. And, that moment, Hotch would hate to find out that would be a time, in the future, that he would have only good things to think and say about Reid. A time in which Hotch would not be happy without Reid's presence, without his strange accent, without seeing him disturbing, in a good way, all of them with his statistics and books.

"Well… I sympathized with you, Dr. Reid".

Spencer looked at him, without understanding. He had not asked about what Hotch was thinking about him, and yes about the case. But…

"Did he sympathize with me?" Reid thought, and returned to look forward. What the hell was going on with them? Was it true? Seeing that Hotch did not tell anything more and didn't knowing what to do or say, they simply stayed quiet, Hotch thinking that was too strange Reid's silence.

"He seemed to be so insecure, and then I drop this phrase and he does not to talk anymore?" he thought, after turning his head. "Ah, fuck him anyway".

But, then, while driving, Hotch began to think about Reid's insecure. Hotch had had the same problem when he joined the BAU with the help of his mentor, Gideon, who now was a type of mentor to Spencer, too. Hotch was a profiler, too, and he could know what was happening with them: it was Reid's first real experience. How scary he must be… And Hotch wasn't helping. Then, the leader thought that, just because he will fire Reid after the case, convince Gideon to stay and all the things will come back to normality, he didn't need to treat Reid as badly as he was treating. Spencer was just a gifted kid who didn't want to be a "nobody" in life.

So, Hotch, making the first connection between himself and Reid, knew that he needed to do something. He needed to apologize. But it would be so humiliating, so hard… Hotch finally understood that what he was feeling for Reid was a mixture of anger, pity and guilt.

"We're here" said the leader, finally, when they arrived at a simple house. There was a girl sitting in the ladder, looking at the ground. When they went out of the car she heard their noises and looked at them, revealing a girl with thick lips and brown eyes. Her hair was dye in red. Hotch showed his credentials.

"We're from the FBI. Can you help us?"

"What do you want?" she asked, coldly.

"We're looking for Erin Foley" said Reid.

When she heard it, her face changed drastically. She stood up and began to run away from them, trying to go back to her house. But Hotch would not facility for her just because she was a teenager: he grabbed her by her arms and put her against the door with force, without saying anything, and Reid widened his eyes, not expecting Hotch to do it with her.

When Hotch took a pair of handcuffs from his jacket, arresting the girl, who was shouting and begging to be free, saying that she knew nothing, Reid did what his instincts told him to do.

"Stop it, Hotchner!" he exclaimed. "She's just a teenager!"

Erin looked at him with despair and Hotch began to drag her until the Police car, ignoring the little Doctor. However, when Hotch passed by his side, he looked at him and said:

"Nobody's innocent, Doctor. We have already seen children killing children in this job, and you'll have to see it too, if you really want to stay here".

And then he threw the girl into the car, who was crying. Without choice, feeling impotent and incompetent, Reid entered in the car, too. While they were driving to the Police Department, Hotch asked the girl who she was. Sobering, she said that she was Erin Foley. And, as her cry filled the air, making Reid's heart beat faster, he thought about what a weak person like him was doing in a place like that. And that Hotch was just the coldest human he has ever seen in his life.

-.-

As Reid said, she was just a teenager. And, as Hotch said, nobody is innocent.

The girl with the red hair sat in the interrogatory room. She had stopped crying and JJ called her mother to explain the situation, and Mary said that the one who had arrested her daughter like that wasn't a Federal Agent, was an animal. JJ didn't like the way Hotch treated Erin and said what Mary had told to him. Hotch didn't move a muscle in his face and simply asked who was going to do the interrogatory.

"I can do it" said Gideon. He thought that it would be nice for Reid to do it, but the oldest profiler saw the perturbed expression in the Doctor's face and didn't say anything with him, planning to tease Hotch about what he had told to the other.

"Can I go with you?" asked Elle. "I think that it would be better for her to have a feminine presence".

"You're right" agreed Gideon. And they went to the room, with Elle leading a cup of water to her. Erin drank the water with tremble hands and looked at them, mixture of fear and angry. While Hotch and JJ were waiting the interrogatory to begin, Reid was devastated by the way things were happening. He sat near to Morgan, who noticed it.

"Are you ok, Doctor?"

Reid raised his eyes to him.

"Yes, yes, everything's ok".

Morgan didn't believe and Reid thought about how hard it was to keep secrets from a gang of profilers. Reid looked at the interrogatory room. Erin could be a trouble-girl or anything else, but in the end she was just a girl, and seeing her in that situation was breaking Reid's heart. For one moment, he thought if he really wanted to see children killing children day after day, as Hotch had said. Then, Reid fixed his thoughts on him. Spencer simply hated to realize that what he was feeling for him was a mixture of jealous, admiration and fear.

JJ turned his head and looked at the desolated expression in Reid's face.

"Doctor Reid, don't you want to see the interrogatory?" she asked, and only then Reid realized that Morgan was already there, and everybody was looking at him expect by Hotch, as usual.

"Wow. Of course, I was going" he said, walking to them and standing next to Morgan, far away from Hotch. Gideon was asking to Erin about her relationship with the three girls murdered. Erin looked at them with a confused expression. She was thinking that they were arresting her by others things she had done.

"With Eliza, Lila and Sarah? Well, we… We were friends, I liked them" she lied.

"Erin, that's not what your teachers said to us" said Elle, softly.

"Did you… Did you talk with them, I mean…. They're liars, they hate me!"

"No, they don't" said Gideon. "They just told the truth".

Erin Foley looked at him with hate in her eyes. In this moment, Mary, Erin's mother, entered in the Police Department. She was running and seemed to be very angry, not just with "all those animals", but with her too.

"Where's that stupid girl?" she asked, approaching to Reid. One policeman was trying to take her away, but she herself was a policewoman. Then, Erin heard her voice and began to shout for her.

"Mom, mom, I'm here!"

But the policeman was able to take Mary away from them and put her in other room. Reid said that he could talk to her.

"Good idea, Reid" said Morgan, and Reid went to the other room while Gideon and Elle tried to talk with Erin again, but she had been quiet since Mary left.

Mary Foley was a thin and masculinized woman with short and curly hair. She was upset, but respected Reid, being he a Federal Agent.

"Look, Doctor. I just want to take my daughter away from this place".

"And she will get out of this place when she begins to help us".

"Are you talking about Eliza, Lila and Sarah?"

"Yes, I am".

Then, her face turned into a worry look.

"Doctor Reid, I'm very, very worried. I do not know what to do with Erin anymore; she's a trouble-girl".

Reid tried to be direct.

"Mrs. Foley, I'm going to be direct. Mark Kenneth, the principal of your daughter's school, he and others teachers told us that Erin hated them. Do you believe that Erin may be able to know something about the case and hide it from us?"

She sighed and tears appeared in her eyes.

"Doctor Reid, I believe that she and her boyfriend are involved in these crimes".

"Does she have a boyfriend?" asked Reid, more and more shocked and curious.

"Yes… I mean, it's not a boyfriend at all. She has 18 years, and he has 25. He's jobless; they met each other on the street. They say they're dating and I have been trying to stop them by at last two months. He's involved with drugs, I know it. I don't want my daughter to go in the wrong way, Doctor, but I have lost my authority".

Suddenly, Spencer's brain began to work. The theory that was forming in his mind was that Erin and that man were dating, and they had a flirt with trouble. She hated the girls and asked him to kill them and so he put the love messages for Erin, or Erin had asked him to do it.

"Mrs. Foley, can you tell me the name of Erin's boyfriend?"

"I think that it's Jay Mundy".

Reid nodded.

"Thanks, Mrs. Foley".

-.-

Meanwhile, in the interrogatory, Gideon and Elle had teased so much Erin, that she began to cry again and told them half truth: she hated them and wanted to see them dead, but she did not have any participation in the crimes. JJ and Hotch looked at each other, worried.

"It could not have been her" said Hotch. "She's a girl like them. She hated them; it can explain why the bodies were face up, but not the messages".

"Yes, but…" whispered the blonde.

"But what?"

"…I don't know, Hotch. I'm not a profiler like you. But I have a feeling that she knows something".

Erin was really strange, alternating between shouts and sobers, moments of fear and angry. She wasn't talking too much and, when she did it, she seemed to be a very perturbed person. But Hotch noticed that she was not that mad when she was sitting in her house. If she was truly innocent, she would not be so uncomfortable. Elle and Gideon weren't being as aggressive as Hotch; she hadn't any reason to be afraid of them.

"She can be innocent in this case, but she has already done something wrong" opined Hotch, and Morgan agreed with him.

This time, Reid approach to them.

"I think I've found something" he said, with excitement.

"What?" asked Morgan, happy to see that the newbie was trying to do a good work.

"Mary has just told me that Erin has a boyfriend, older than her, a jobless. She is against their date and thinks that they're evolving" he said, trying to not do it so quickly.

"Wow" said Derek. "To make her own mother thinks that she is a killer at her 18 years, the situation must be hard".

Reid nodded as Hotch asked:

"Do you know his name?"

"Jay Mundy. He's 25 years old"

"We don't want to let Erin go now, she told that she hated them, but hadn't any participation in the crimes. So, where's this guy, now?" asked JJ.

"Garcia can tell us" guaranteed Morgan, smiling as calling for his baby girl. He walked to another room so his friends could hear the interrogatory, which had stranded because Erin did not want to say anything.

"I'm going to talk to Mary. She can't be alone in this situation" said JJ, leaving Hotch and Reid alone.

Reid was feeling more confident now. He still had reservations toward Hotch, of course, but the situation was getting better for him. Hotch had to admit that he was helping, but he was not sure if he wanted to see his face every day. He just didn't know that there would be a time, years in the future, after Gideon's departure and his divorce with Hayley, after their work begin to get heavier and heavier every day, would be a time in which Reid would be the one thing capable to make Hotch wants to get out of bed and go to work. A time in which Reid would be the only thing Hotch wanted and needed to see every day.

"Well…" Hotch finally said, after some seconds in which they just looked at each other. "… I hope that something good came from your information".

"It'll" Reid simply said it and then looked at Morgan, who had the information.

"Garcia gave me the address".

"I'm going with you" Hotch said, and, while walking with Derek, he turned back to Reid and, maybe noticing that the Doctor would be part of the team anyway, wanted to let him know what he could do and what he could not.

"You stay here, Dr. Reid" everyone could realize that Reid wasn't the type to go arresting persons. And that Jay Mundy could be a dangerous person, moreover. But Reid had another plan.

"I'm not disobeying your authority, Sir, but should not I really go?"

Wow, that was too much for Hotch, who would rather die than lost control of everything that was around him. He turned back and said, fusillading the other with his eyes.

"You're disobeying my authority, Dr. Reid. You are going to stay here".

Hotch's phrase was a slap in Reid's face, but Morgan was agreeing. It was getting dark outside and the streets would get too dangerous for a thin boy like Reid, who nodded and looked to the ground, wishing Gideon to be there. But, that second, one thought crossed Hotch's mind while he and Morgan were walking out to the Police Department. Reid was a genius, and Hotch admitted it. The leader did not want him to be on the team, but, what if he solved the case? All the best information were coming from him, and Hotch, being a smart profiler, had already thought the possibility of Erin and her boyfriend killing together, thing that could explain the position of the bodies and the messages. What if he was forced to put this boy to the team? He needed to put fear in Reid. Like he had done with the "children killing children" story. Sending him to arrest a marginal in a strange city, on the night… Hotch wanted him to be scary. He had noticed how bad Reid wanted to work there, and it was time to cut his wings.

"Wait, Dr. Reid" he said, and Reid looked at him, waiting for another psychological slap. "I changed my mind. It will be good for you to see how we work in field. If you want to go, you can".

But, despite the fact that Reid was still a student of criminology when compared to the others agents, Spencer had an innate don for observation and interpretation, like Gideon. In the same time Hotch said that he realized that the leader wanted something deeper, because it wasn't a thing Hoch would do for free. He knew that Hotch did not like him. And now it was time to change this situation if Spencer wanted to have his place on the BAU. So, he wanted to go.

"I'd like to go" he said, neutrally.

And, while they began to walk to the Police Car, Reid gave a smile that was at the same time defiant and polite, which Hotch returned with another smile that showed very well his disdain, but Reid didn't break. Morgan, seeing it, tried to understand what was happening between them, but found it impossible and began to drive until the poorest part of the city.

It was getting dark and the sky was beautiful. The heaven was dark-blue and there was an orange line in the horizon, with just a few stars. Morgan, Hotch and Reid stopped in front of a simple and dirty house and the two agents were followed by the little genius until the door. They tried to say that they were from the FBI, but it did not work, so Morgan had to do one of the things he does better: breach door. Reid was feeling nothing but adrenaline, and Hotch ended with his expectations telling him to stay in the street; Reid hasn't been allowed to carry a gun yet, unlike Hotch and Morgan, and entering there could be too dangerous for him and for their mission.

"You stay here to watch us and what we do, ok?" said Hotch.

"I understood" he answered, this time agreeing with his future boss and standing in a good distance from them.

What they found was a cement floor and one rat that ran desperately after Morgan breached the door. Jay Mundy wasn't there. So, they began to comb the house looking for something util. But Hotch was upset.

"Morgan, we're not doing the right thing. We should be in the Police Department, making the profile, and not digging out adolescent dramas from school. That girl isn't a good company for anyone, but I don't think that she is evolving. Teenagers can hate and love each other crazily, but then it just stops after some time, it's normal. And now we're wasting time looking from her problematic boyfriend with that little doctor that don't do anything except follow and disturb us…"

"Be calm, Hotch" said Morgan. "Yes, she is a suspect because she hated them and, as Gideon told us, she became happy when they died. Her boyfriend is an adult that could be evolving with drugs, and it's a serious thing. Erin and Jay can be working together to kill those girls, I know that you and Dr. Reid have already thought about it, as have I. And you yourself said that, even if she is not evolving in these crimes, she has already done something wrong in this city, even her mother thinks it. Come on, Hotch, and Dr. Reid is not disturbing, he's just trying to help. You know it…" Hotch thought if Derek's words weren't true. Then, the other said naturally, with no funny:

"…You know that he will be one of us. I can't analyze why you're hating him so much, Hotch, maybe Gideon can, I'm not as good as him. But now the only important thing is to solve this case, and it's a thing that we will do somehow, like we always did".

Hotch looked at the cement ground, feeling ridiculous. Hotch and Morgan were not looking to the door, so hey didn't see when Reid, hearing something moving behind the house, went there, leaving the street in front of the house by itself. This time, Jay Mundy returned to his home and saw the Police Car. Immediately, he thought that they were there or because of his drugs, his girlfriend or because he had killed three girls. Afraid, but wanting to not run away like a coward, Jay took his revolver and entered in his house, hearing the conversation between the two agents while Reid was weakly realizing that the noise he heard was just two dogs, the neighbor's dogs which had escaped from him, playing in the glass.

Jay entered silently in his kitchen, where the two agents were, and the last thing that Morgan said before taking a shot in his leg was:

"Stop acting like a child, Hotch".

Hotch returned to reality violently only to see his colleague falling down in his feet and Jay Mundy with his revolver pointed at him. Morgan could have been took his gun and shot Mundy, but his head had hit the wall, making Morgan stay unconscious for few seconds.

Incredibly, the first thing that crossed Hotch's mind was: how could Jay enter in the house with Reid's presence near to the Police Car? Or that dumb boy had been shot or he had leaved his position. Even that thought that having taken a few seconds to appear and then disappear, Jay did not wasted time and shot Hotch in his waist.

But what they did not know was that Reid had heard the shot that reached Morgan and he ran to the house. Trembling by fear, Reid began to walk silently until the kitchen. Morgan was fallen near to the door, but Hotch had fallen far away from him, and Jay Mundy was about to kill Hotch when Reid, impulsively, took Morgan's gun and shot Jay, in a second that could have lasted an eternity. Hotch was barely aware when Jay's body, which had been reached in the back, fell near to him.

Confusing, Hotch looked forward and saw Reid there, helping Morgan to wake up. Derek had been awake since Reid's shot, and was just feeling an intense pain in the leg.

"Are you alright, Morgan?" asked Reid, still trembling. Derek guessed what had happened in the few seconds he was unconscious, and he smiled to Reid.

"Yes, I am, kid, it's just my leg. I'm going to be ok. Just call the emergency and…" then, he looked to Hotch, standing there with his bloody waist. "… You learnt First Aid in the FBI's Academy, Reid. Go help Hotch".

But it was an unnecessary thing to say. Reid controlled himself and made the call to the emergency before letting Morgan's gun fell and running to help Hotch, whose body had hit the wall, too. He fell in a sit position, so Reid had to help him to lie down in the ground. Hotch was barely conscious, but he could see Reid near to him. Hotch wasn't worry about what happened, he saw Morgan alive and now was only wanting to know what Reid was going to do with him. What if he got Hotch's situation worse? Trying to stay conscious and feeling a lot of pain in his waist and belly, he noticed that Reid had unbuttoning his shirt to put a finger in the injury. He was stopping the bleeding; he was saving Hotch's life.

Before getting unconscious, the last thing Hotch heard was Reid's voice saying that he should stay calm because the emergency had already come. The last thing he saw was Reid's face, worried, and, even that, so beautiful. Then, Hotch felt an intense pain in his body and, thinking that he was about to die, called for Reid, who answered by putting his free hand on Hotch's.

-.-

When Hotch opened his eyes, the first thing he saw was a white ceiling. His head was heavy, but the pain in the waist had disappeared. He looked forward and realized that was in a hospital and that his fiancée, Haley, was there, crying silently in a chair near to him.

"Aaron!" she said, opening a sincere smile. Before Hotch could answer something, she stood up and went to him, putting a hand in his hair. "Aaron, thank God, you're fine!"

Hotch smiled and looked at his fiancée. She was younger than Hotch and had brown-light eyes with fair hair that rested in her shoulders, with the tips slightly turned up. She loved Hotch because she felt secure with him. Haley didn't have a job and now would be sustained by his future husband. Not having many ambitions in her life, Haley liked to think that she would be the Hotch's assistant, his guardian angel. When Hotch became the director of the FBI, she would be by his side, proud to know that she had given him comfort and love. For her, Hotch was the real version of the Captain America. Her Captain American. Only her, because Haley had a possessive personality, almost identical to Hotch, but less aggressive and more blackmailer. And Hotch liked Hayley because she was a beautiful and solidarity woman who truly loved him. Hotch was with her because he needed someone to say how good he was, after all he wasn't even sure about it. His fiancée gave him security, but no comprehension.

Haley never understood the type of job he had. She liked to say to her friends, "my fiancée and future husband works in the FBI", sometimes forgetting the name of Hotch's department. She had no idea that Hotch worked making profilers or that he had already have to shot several people, off and on killing them. She liked to think that he was saving the other's life everyday, but she would became shocked to know that, as Reid discovered, he had already seen men killing women, women killing children, children killing children, and saving only a few of them. Every day.

Years after their marriage, Haley would hate to wake up every morning and see Hotch analyzing crime scene photos; she'd hate to realize that Hotch was not the Captain America, that he had his weakness, his fears and anguish. She'd dislike knowing that Hotch went to work seven o'clock and returned at eleven o'clock, traveling for days and days, and that would be a time in which Hotch wouldn't reach for her anymore, in any senses of the verb "reach". But the worst thing she could never find out about her husband was that, if he was living for his job, there was someone with whom he could analyze the crime scene photos together; there was someone with whom he could talk about all their weakness, fears, anguish and any other thing they would like to talk about; there was someone with whom Hotch could wake up and sleep together because they had the same timetable. Someone with whom Hotch could travel together, work together, live together, someone with whom Hotch would be happy to reach for. Truly, the worst thing she could never find out and that she would find out about Aaron Hotchner was his platonic love for one of his subordinates, that wouldn't stay as platonic for much time.

But, rationally, neither of them had ways to know that all those things were about to happen, not even Reid, who was sat in the hospital corridor, near to Hotch's and Morgan's room. In the two hours that the doctor had taken to remove their bullets, including Jay's, Reid told to his team what had happened with them in Mundy's house in a mixture of little and several emotions: proud to have saved the lives of two men, fear of what Gideon would think when he heard that he had almost killed a man in his first job day, and the fact that he had taken a gun from his colleagues and… Well, what was done was done. When Reid saw Hayley running throw the corridor, almost crying and going to Hotch's room, Spencer realized that he had taken Hotch's hand and a wave of shame took over him, but… Well, what was done was done.

With this phrase in his mind, that's how Dr. Spencer Reid solved his first case. Jay received permission to leave the hospital one week later and entered in the Police Department, where Mary and Erin were living, the first crying and the second entering in panic almost every day. The team found some drugs in Jay's house, and he, knowing that it was the end of the line, told the truth: he and Erin had been dating and she hated the girls. Then, she asked him to kill them. In the Olympic Games, Erin caused the girls and they went to the alley to fight with each other, but then Jay appeared and shot them. Erin had been abandoned by his father and was extremely possessive (as Morgan said), forcing Jay to write the messages with the knife. The revolver was found, too. Erin and Jay would go to the jail.

Gideon and Elle went to the hospital in the same hour to visit Reid. The woman went to see how Morgan was and JJ was comforting Mary and Erin in the Police Department. So, Jason sat by Reid's side, which hands had already been cleaned. He smiled at him.

"You did a real good job" said the profiler.

Reid looked at the ground and an indignation expression formed in his face.

He wanted to say so many things. He wanted to say that he was happy, sad, melancholic, excited. He wanted to say that in his first real experience out of school he shot a man, he saved lives in his first day of job. He wanted to tell how he was thinking that he was becoming a respectful person for others and for him and, no, in the reality; in the truth he was a dumb person that would always be like that. But, more than anything, he wanted to say that he was beginning to like Hotch, that he hated him at the same time.

"You have a really strange job, Gideon".

The other smiled, guessing the emotional confusion that Reid was facing.

"We have a really strange job, Reid. Right?"

Reid laughed and looked at Hotch's room. Then, he turned to Jason.

"Yes. We really have".

* * *

_There is always some madness in love. But there is always some reason in madness – Nietzsche, German philosophy._

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**The second chapter was too big, I had to publish it on 3 parts. And now it's finally done! Let's go to Chapter 3!  
Agnes, thanks so much for your comment! My fic begins in 2005; Aaron is 45, Gideon is 55 and Reid is 23 (at last in my fic).**


	5. Getting Used

**The Best Things in Life - Chapter 3**  
**"Getting Used"**

* * *

_If you believe in love at first sight, never stop looking – Closer, 2004 American film._

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Hotch could be a "work addict", heartless or anything else, but he knew how to recognize when someone was doing a good job at his Unit. And Reid, despite of his enormous fault going to the back of the house just to find two doings playing, had saved their lives and caught the killer. And the fact that he had shot him was justifiable: having no own guns or handcuffs, no credential and, principally, no authority, the only way to catch a marginal like that was shooting. And, as Reid had solved this case with the phrase "what was done was done" in mind, Hotch made the report of the Montgomery Case and sent it to Erin Strauss (who did not like to see that the girl had her name), the supervisor of the BAU, with that quote in mind: "Fuck".

Fuck the dead girls, them, that, if had not been killed, there wouldn't be a case to be solved. Erin Foley too, her, that, if had not been so miserable and jealous, would not have done it with his boyfriend, Jay, who could fuck with her, that addicted that liked to pervert girls. Hotch knew that he himself could be fucked because he knew that all the team hated him and he had given so many reason to it since his arrival to the leadership by Gideon, thing by he hadn't felt capable or worthy, but, well, who wouldn't like to have several policemen, sheriffs, family men and women and subordinates begging for him to solve all the most complex cases of the country (cases that for a person like him would have to be easy, of course)? Everybody wanted to be where he was, in Hotch's opinion.

However, having an entire country to save from the hands of rapists, thieves and serial killers and a future wife to support was a responsibility that was and would continue making the stress an insupportable thing. Hotch wanted it, but felt unprepared. He wanted to response to all the expectations that have been put on his shoulders by everybody around him.

But he couldn't, and Jason began to realize it only after doing that slutty with his friend. What were happening was that, after sending six men to a house that was about to explode, thinking that there were two serial killers, and losing all those men, everybody went up to him, criticizing him and saying that he was too old to do that job. Jason was the perfect profiler, always doing the right thing, which made the people around the FBI jealous of him and waiting for the day he would fail. And, when this day came, Gideon had a panic attack in the middle of one of those men's funeral, crying like a child and exclaiming that he wasn't good enough to do it after more of 30 years saving lives. The first person who came after him was Hotch. Calmer than Elle, but with her almost deformed sense of justice, serious than Morgan, but with his longing to go around chasing and handcuffing criminals, having a higher sense of loyalty to the country than JJ and the same sense of human dignity to Garcia (in other words, that the criminals didn't deserve any kind of respect, pity or consideration), Hotch was less intelligent than Jason but he dreamed higher than anyone in the BAU.

Even knowing that he didn't trust himself enough to leader them, Gideon knew that his own colleagues did not want to take orders of him anyway. Nobody wanted to take orders from an old man who seemed to enjoy sending men to dangerous situations and Hotch was the most decent option to the job. A job that Hotch was doing sometimes looking at Gideon before or after making a decision or sending an order, like he was searching a sign of approval, thing that he did when he was the subordinate. And being the subordinate was a job that Jason was doing sometimes forgetting it and making important decisions and orders, like putting Reid, his possible future successor, in the team without anyone's knowledge.

Jason knew that the way Reid entered in the team could not be worse for them, but it was a thing he had to do. The truth was that he knew that Hotch couldn't deal well with everything that was happening, but neither could he. Sometimes, people need to be egoistic. Sometimes people need to not think about the future so they can ease the present and try to forget the past. These were things that both Hotch and Jason were hoping to do, so the BAU would continue to work and be one of the most successful departments in the FBI.

One of the most successful departments in the FBI that was now receiving another member – Dr. Spencer Reid, 20 years, 3 PhDs. Because, Hotch, being a man who could recognize when someone did a good job, wouldn't be so heartless to not hire a person who had saved his life. And Reid had really saved his life, considering that Jay was going to shoot him in the head or chest before going to do the same with Morgan.

Talking about him, Derek left the hospital only four days after his entrance. The bullet didn't reach his bone, so the surgery was very easy and Morgan could walk normally, but the doctor advised him to not run for at last two weeks. Hotch, by his side, had to pass a complete week in the hospital room, always with the company of Haley. Elle, JJ and Morgan visited him too, and Garcia recorded a message for him, wishing improvements. But, when Gideon came and Haley went for their lunch, the conversation was about other topic.

Jason entered with best intentions, but knowing that Aaron would tease him about the new agent, and determinate to make things clean.

"Hi, Hotch" he said. The other just looked at him.

"I hate thinking that I would probably be dead if Dr. Reid wasn't there. I feel weak" he admitted, but without shame.

"Yes. But be aware about it: I talked with him and it was a big scare for him, too. He had never shot anyone before".

"I guess he had never seen a gun before, only in TV…" grumbled Hotch.

"Will you put him in the team?" asked Gideon, directly.

"Yes… He saved us and caught the killer. And, yeah, he is really intelligent". Then, he gave a sarcastic smile for his subordinate. "Won't you fire yourself, I believe?"

"No, Hotch, I won't" Jason said after getting confused if he could apologize to Hotch by the way Reid entered among them. The old profiler didn't want to feed Hotch's fantasies that he could really control everything around him, because he couldn't and believing in it would only frustrate him. Jason couldn't control his psychologist way to be, and he just wanted to see his friend overcome all those inferiority and angry feelings. Asking sorry for him wouldn't help him with it. At the same time, if he had made that dumbness and killed six men, it wasn't Hotch fault, he wasn't suppose to be the leader right now. And Reid would be just another invisible stone between them.

In the end, seeing his injuries and knowing that Reid had done a good thing, Jason didn't apologize. Jason didn't say anything. He just gave an advice that seemed like an order for Hotch:

"You may don't like him, Aaron. You may until don't accept him. But you have to respect him, not only because he saved your life, but because he respects you, Hotch. When you were in surgery, I talked to Reid and – don't dare you think that it was a gossip – he told me the things you said when you two were arresting Erin, or, better, when you were doing it. When you were my subordinate, when you were a silly little newbie like him in the BAU, I never, I never talked to you like that, Hotch".

The first thing that crossed Hotch's mind was that Gideon seemed like a father scolding his son. A father that loved his children so much that he couldn't just stay quiet while seeing two brothers fighting. And Jason, even not being the leader, was the father of the BAU, everyone knew that. Like a good and guilty son, Hotch just nodded while Haley was entering with the horrible hospital's food.

-.-

After going out to the hospital, Hotch was given two weeks to stay in his home and rest, but he wanted to work. All of the team members supported him, who would walk with difficulties for one month, because of the bullet. Reid wanted to stay in his apartment until Hotch had a verdict about him, what happened next day.

Before doing the report about the Montgomery Killer, he asked Gideon to bring Reid to the FBI's Office and then the leader said a few words that determinate everything.

"You can stay here, if you want, but one thing is for sure: you'll never work in field again".

Reid nodded in Hotch's office, feeling more and more challenged. Hotch continued.

"As you did the course of profiling, you can help us. Was Gideon your teacher?"

"Yes, he was".

"Right. I read your report more carefully and I saw that you're good in statistics, map-reading, geography profiling and linguistic. We have never had someone like you before, so…" he tried to smile, which was impossible "… Welcome to the team, Dr. Reid".

Reid just smiled politely, and, thanking his new boss, walked away from the office. Morgan and JJ were there, waiting for him. Reid got surprised when saw them, they were suppose to be working in theirs desks.

"Hey, people. What's going on?"

"Congratulations, kid!" said Morgan.

"Ah" Reid understood, smiling truly. "Did you hear what Hotch said?"

"Yeah!" said JJ. "We were listening behind the door, you know?"

Morgan laughed when JJ revealed their childish behavior and Reid smiled more, happy to see that he had already made new friends. It was hard to have a healthy social life being a 13 years-old boy cursing Engineering in Las Vegas University. Reid remembered all the humiliation he had passed in the hands of students and teacher who looked at him like he was a toddler. No matter how intelligent he was;

he would always been a little boy in the world of the adults. Reid guaranteed himself with his mind, passing in the tests and studying to six in the morning until ten at night. And, while his intelligence was becoming higher and higher with the years passing by, his social life and self-confidence were plummeted, until it came to a point where Reid began to believe that his brain wouldn't help him to do anything – only the sociable and strong person in life could be someone, and he would never be someone like that. He still hated being underestimating, but his indignation was becoming increasingly slow. However, Reid had no ways to know that his first job at the BAU would lead him to do things he never expected to make: solve crimes, travel around the country and save lives before receiving the heartfelt and relieved thanks to the relatives of those saved lives. Of course, the work in the BAU, as Hotch knew very well, wasn't only making by good and sunny days: Reid would experience the most painful situations of his life, almost being killed and seeing people being killed by serial killers in front of him, all the sickness that the human mind can produce. And Spencer would experiment, also, some sensations that could be good or bad, depending of how you look. Falling in love with Hotch would be one of these sensations.

"What an ugly thing, listening behind the door" said a male voice entering in the ambient. They turned their heads and Gideon was there, with a serious look in the face.

"Sorry, Gideon" said JJ, this time ashamed.

"Sorry for what? He's kidding" guaranteed Morgan, without losing the joke.

Reid felt an explosion of admiration for Jason while seeing that he couldn't sustain the serious look and saying:

"I knew that you would be here the first time I saw you, Doctor. Good work. Have you already chosen your desk?"

"No, no, it's true, I haven't…" realized Reid. Then, JJ and Morgan began to drag him, practically, downstairs and showing him the last desks to choose. Reid chose one that was right in front of Elle and near to Morgan. JJ and Garcia worked in another room as Hotch and Gideon had their own offices in the top floor of the building. Gideon observed everything with a proud look in his face, hoping that everything would end well.

-.-

Reid's first days of work in the BAU were purely made of making analyzes and deal with paperwork. They had, on average, nine to twelve cases per year, and the time between them was full of the monotone routine in the office. Sometimes, one of them was invited to make a lecture to the police of some city, giving clues about how to interpret a crime scene, for example. Most of the police departments in the United States guessed that the BAU was a type of divine helper, filled of the most genial people in the country, the only one who could solve the most bizarre crimes. They loved and feared them at the same time, some of whom envied them.

Sometimes, the agents received letters from policemen and mayors asking about criminology, like "I sent my men to arrest a criminal who shot a woman and tried to save her later. Why would he do that?", and then Reid or someone wrote back answering about the Hero Complex. Or, even, they were asked to just put the paperwork in order. Reid's work was a little harder because, two hours a day, Gideon took him to his office, locked the door, said to the secretary that he had a import business to do, and began to teach Reid everything about criminology, truly tutoring.

In those two hours, the best profiler of the FBI talked to him about his own cases and how he solved them. They analyzed others famous cases together and Jason used his imagination to create other fictional cases and left Reid free to try to solve them alone. Sometimes, Jason talked about the people he saved, the people he left to die because a dumb error in the profile, always teaching Reid to have self-confidence because there could have been several criminologists in the world, but none of them were trained to go to field, for example. There wasn't, and never would be, any other team like them in the country. Gideon talked honestly to him about the good and the bad sides of their job, and how to deal with them. It wouldn't be easy, but it would be very grateful. Jason liked to see that Reid really paid attention to everything they talked and read there, and Spencer adored noticing that there was someone who thought that he had potential. Reid, not feeling teased, thought freely and didn't have fear to error. This rarely happened, by the way.

Elle, Morgan, JJ and Garcia liked Reid, but they were founding strange all the attention that Gideon was putting in him. And Hotch was founding not strange, but inappropriate. Reid had already made the course of general criminology and formed himself with high notes. Why was Gideon teaching everything for him, again? Afraid of his ex-boss telling him things about the personalities of the persons in the team, including his, Hotch began to create motivations to pass by their door, only to hear what they were talking. Then, after some days, Hotch understood that Reid already knew everything about criminology, but only the techniques. Gideon was trying to teach him a thing that they learned by themselves: how to evolve and deal with the feelings in the criminal's mind and in theirs own minds. He was trying to humanize the killers, focusing in the motivations. "If Ed Gein had not been mistreated by his family, he wouldn't have done all the things he did", for example. And that young and influenced man believed in it.

Hotch knew that Jason had pity for the criminals, even being the best profiler in the country. But Aaron hated this conception of the serial killers being "disturbed persons who hadn't any other chance in life", and saw no sense in a Nietzsche's quote that Gideon had put like a painting in his office's wall: "He who fights with monsters should look to it that he himself does not become a monster".For him, they were not humans; they're monsters who didn't deserve to live. The new-boss sometimes had quivers of pleasure only imagining that would be a day in which every criminal would be killed by the State exactly the way they had tortured and murdered their victims. He respect Jason, but did not approve his way to think.

And now, when Gideon would be retired, enjoying his accommodation in the middle of the forest, waking up late and hearing the birds sound all day, Reid would be there, working with them and exclaiming that everyone deserves to have a good life, even in prison, like his favorite teacher taught him. One more moralist would be terrible. Wow, what a hell. But, one day, listening to their conversation and noticing the entire tender and familiarity between them, Hotch realized that Gideon was doing a part of his job, "introducing" Reid to the world of the BAU. Or he would learn how to live between them by himself or it would be the boss' responsibility to show how things worked. If Hotch was the owner of a factory with a hundred of subordinates, it would not be possible; but there were only five people in their team, including Reid and excluding JJ and Garcia. Allowing other person to enter in their world was absurdly rare.

For one second, before walking out of the hospital, Aaron thought that would be funny to appoint Reid's eventual mistakes and seeing him work well, when he would do it. Hotch thought that having a clumsy little nerd working with paperwork, insecure and trying desperately to not make the boss angry at him would be really, really funny among the darkness of their job. And Jason was taking away all his funny. Wow, what a hell.

But, if Gideon was casting a new Dr. Reid, full of noble sentiments and psychology techniques, he wouldn't issue teach him to shoot, for example. Hotch would.

* * *

_When it comes to love, silence is more than words – Pascal, French intellectual._


	6. Bodies and Guns

_The eye of a needle is spacious enough for two lovers, but the world is too small for two enemies__ – Solomon Gabirol, Spanish poet. _

"Hey, Dr." JJ said, while walking downstairs. She had just gotten out of Hotch's office, showing him some cases she thought they could take. Reid looked at her immediately, recognizing her voice. JJ was in rush to see other cases and walked near to Reid, going to her own office and announcing: "Dr., Hotch wants to talk with you in his office".

Then, she moved away for his camp of vision and Reid murmured a "thanks" while looking at Hotch's office. For one second, he just stood in his chair, wondering if he had already done something wrong. His "secret classes" with Jason would begin in 2 hours, so the oldest agent was working in his own office, would not be there to help him. Seeing his friend in that ashamed situation, Morgan said:

"Don't be afraid of Hotch, Reid. You must respect him, not fear him. Just go there and see what he wants to talk about, talk with him and go back here. Simple".

Reid looked at him in a mix of thanks, surprise and shame. That's what Gideon would say, and Spencer couldn't deny that he really got more comfortable with that type of comments. At the same time, he wasn't expecting Derek to do it, to notice the look on his face. He knew that Morgan was a good profiler, but or his face was too much denouncing or his colleague was a truly good profiler. Anyway, in the end, why he wanted to hear that comfortable comments? Couldn't Reid face his life alone? Why he needed someone to always help him, if deep inside he knew he would walk by himself?

"Hum… Ok, Morgan, I know" Morgan did not seem convinced, but it was his cue to stand up and walk downstairs. Then, he put his hair behind his ears and knocked the door. He heard Hotch's voice saying, without alternation, that he could enter. Then, the new agent did it and was invited by Hotch to have a seat.

"Well, Doctor Reid" said the boss. "First, I need to say that you're doing a good job with the paperwork. Gideon has told me the entire letter from police departments, helping them". Hotch, with his entire plan formed in his mind, smiled to him. Reid enjoyed himself to see that his fears were invalids, and smiled too.

"Thank you, Agent Hotchner. I am really enjoying working here".

"We can see" said Hotch. "Ah, and you can call me 'Hotch'. I don't think that our colleagues appreciate my surname so much…"

This time, Reid realizes that something was wrong. So, "Hotch" was being funny and praising him. Something was really wrong, but Reid could not demonstrate it, so he just smiled and nodded. He was about to ask what they were doing there when Hotch himself answered:

"Well, we both know that your first case didn't go the way we wanted. We did not want you to shot a man in his first day of work, Doctor Reid, please have it in mind. But I have already known about your classes with Agent Gideon, and I like to see that you have his particular support. But, speaking directly, Agent Gideon is only teaching you the technical part of the job. Remember when I told you that you would never work in field again?"

"Perfectly".

"So, I just want you to erase the words 'never again'. If you want, I can teach you to shoot. You have already shot a criminal, but not in the standard procedure. You are going to go with us every case we had, but you can not just work in the psychologist part of the job. We deal with dangerous things and people all day. Wouldn't be nice for you to learn how to shoot? In an extreme situation, it can save your life, like you saved mine and Morgan's".

Hotch's words entered slowly in Reid's mind. He, walking with a gun? Gideon had told him that wasn't obligatory for a BAU agent to have a gun, but everyone there had, except by JJ and Garcia. Even Jason had his. And Hotch spoke to him like he was a hero, like: "you saved my life, so you deserve to carry a gun because you're so good that you might enter in dangerous situations". Reid imagined himself, Hotch, Elle, Morgan and Gideon invading a house and arresting a criminal. In his imagination, they would really consider each other like capable agents and work together, trusting in each other's abilities. Reid imagined himself, Hotch, Morgan and Gideon in a chase in the middle of one city's street. Gideon would be telling them where to go based in the profiler, where the criminal was trying to escape, and Hotch would be driving as Morgan and Reid tried to shoot the car when they got close. They would shoot and arrest the criminal, saving the day. Reid imagined, with great expectations, he himself, Hotch and Gideon sitting down in a police department, making the profile and respecting each other's opinions. In the end, they would by themselves invade the criminal's house, something would get bad and Reid would save their lives again, but in a less clumsy way. Reid would be confident, masculine, fearless, and respected. And everyone around him, principally Hotch and Jason, would see him like that. The way he always wanted to be. The way he would be if he spoke "yes" to Aaron.

Reid walked away from his boss' office with a grin smile in the face, what caught Elle's attention when he sat down in his desk.

"Hey, Dr. Something good happened?"

In response, Reid looked at her and just said:

"My first shoot lesson will be tomorrow".

Hotch stood up and saw Reid walking until his desk. Then, he smiled and thought that it was going to be really, really funny. In their class, when Reid told Gideon about it, he didn't accept very well, saying that it wasn't necessary a gun to kill someone. But he wanted to see Reid happy with his job. Jason knew that Reid wasn't the type to work directly in field, but, if carrying a gun would give a shoot in his insecurity, why not? In the end, until him carried a revolver, anyway.

-.-

In the FBI's Office, there was a special place for shoot training. It was a wise room full of cabins would two people could stay. In the other side of the room, were the targets full of white circles in areas like the heart, brain and stomach. Each cabin was separated from each other and every person must wear glasses, to protect the eyes, and earplugs. Reid was in the highest stage of anxiety and expectations when he met Hotch in the door of the room. It was one o'clock and they would be there until quarter to three. Hotch was smiling to himself and wondering the many ways he could humiliate his new subordinate when the other came.

"Good evening, Dr. Reid. Let's go?"

"Good evening, Hotch. Yes, let's go" Reid didn't feel in the spirit to tell Hotch call him only "Reid".

They entered in the dark room and Reid suddenly felt incommoded with the fact that there weren't any other person with them. Jason had said he would like to see his student learning to shoot, but he had to make a draft about his next lecture for the Minnesota Police about sexual paraphilias and could not be there.

Hotch noticed Reid's thoughts and explained, smiling:

"I sent everyone else away. So nobody can annoy us".

Reid just smiled, nervous, not wanting to be in that dark room alone with Hotch by more than one hour. But, as they took theirs earplugs, glasses and Aaron gave him one revolver, identical to his, Reid tranquilized himself.

"You idiot", he thought. "He's not going to rape you or kill you, be calm".

They chose a target and Hotch put himself in front of Reid, so the other could see him shooting.

"When I was in the SWAT, Dr., I learnt to shoot with these three notes: front sight, trigger press and follow through. What means…"

And then their class began. Hotch said that the best clue to shoot was to know that, as your eyes are above your hands, you should know that you had to raise your hands until your eyes, to shot the target anywhere you were seeing. Hotch shot very well, which amazed Reid. After thirteen minutes listening, being quiet and seeing, Hotch looked at Spencer and departed, trading places with him. Then, Hotch was behind the little doctor and said while he was raising his gun.

"Remember: front sight, trigger press and follow through. I want you to try to shoot the target in the belly".

Reid tried and pressed the trigger, trying to not close his eyes as his arms trembled and the shot ended up in his pelvis. He was wondering if he should apologize when Hotch said, quickly:

"Belly to pelvis, pelvis to belly. Good start. What was your mistake?"

Reid thought about every movement he had made and every movement Hotch had made.

"Well, I know that these aren't your notes, but my arms began to tremble and I almost closed my eyes. Analyzing now, I wasn't much worried about what I was going to shoot, and yes if I was going to press the trigger or not".

Hotch felt surprised by Reid's sincerity. He was expecting him to be ashamed and try to create an excuse, but the kid assumed his mistakes, not giving to Hotch motivations to humiliate him. By his first time, Hotch didn't feel that superior to his colleague. Why he wanted so much to let him down, to underestimate him? Did they really need it, that psychological war which could pretty bad interfere in their cases? Why was Hotch making Reid's presence so personal? Hotch was supposed to kiss the newbie's feet, after all, he saved his life. Was he really that ungrateful?

But… It was because of it that he hated Reid. Hotch already had that infamous inferiority feeling and it got worse with the humiliation to have his life saved by an asshole and girlish teenager like Spencer. He would rather be dead than to have to thank to him for the rest of their lives.

Then, he looked at Reid's tiny body right in front of him and remembered that episode, in the plane, when he sat near to Reid, touched his shoulder on his and pretended to sleep only to keep him by his side, where he would feel uncomfortable. Only now he thought about why he had done that. He had already seen cases of men harassing and even raping each other not researching for sexual pleasure, but for domination. To impose fear. Was he doing the same thing with Reid?

"Yes, Dr. Reid, that was your mistake. Try again. In the shoulder".

Reid's arms trembled again, but he didn't close his eyes and the bullet reached the face of the target. Hotch realized that Spencer's only mistake was that he was afraid of his own gun. He needed to be hard, determinate. But you can not oblige a person to stop having fear of anything, so, in an impulse Hotch put his own arms towards Reid and took his hands, raising them, making Reid's back lean Hotch's chest and the boss put his head near to Reid's earplugs, to increase the impact. Hotch put his finger above Reid's in the trigger, their hips almost meeting each other.

A naturally instinct of danger and prevention took over the new agent as he felt their bodies together. Reid knew what Hotch was trying to do. As despise him wasn't enough, now he wanted to harass him both mentally and physically, like he was a toy or something. Knowing that, in that uncomfortable position, was he by himself, Reid took courage and elbowed his boss' chest, mixture of fear and angry. Spencer could be too weak to hurt Hotch, but the message was delivered anyway and the other gave two steps back. For the Nevada native, it was the beginning of a fight to live; for the ex-SWAT, it was just an almost gently little jerk.

"Don't you want to be in this posit…"

"No, I don't want" Reid almost raised his voice to say it, his heart bating fast when he noticed how close he and his boss were. Hotch raised an eyebrow in surprise as Reid turned back to the target, and, full of adrenaline, recorded everything he had done when he shot Jay. The way he hold the gun, the way he looked at Mundy's body, thinking about the position of his eyes and not of his gun, and, finally, when he pressed the trigger without hesitation. Conscious that Hotch was still behind him and that it was enough, he looked directly at the target's shoulder and shot quickly.

It worked. For the surprise of both, it worked and there was the mark of a bullet in the right place.

"Now you got it right" said Hotch, after a sigh that denounced his worry, thinking if he would have to be in that position with him every time they went to arrest someone. Reid let his arms fall and thought about what could have happened if he had allowed his boss to stay in that position. He would rather be dead than touching Hotch again.

Reid didn't have courage to tell Gideon what happened between Aaron and him in their first shoot lesson. Gideon didn't have patience to keep the conversation even noticing how uncomfortable Reid seemed to be. And he stills thinks he can hide something for an old profiler. Hotch, by his side, didn't have ways to forget Reid's body interlaced at his own and how dumb they were, playing that psychological war that won't take them anywhere.

Hotch decided stop trying to make him down. He could dislike Reid, but it was no motivation to harass him like that. He was just a young man in his first job trying to do things right. And he was doing things rights, answering several letters and doing the paperwork. Jason never got tired of telling everybody how smart and talented his student was, and always insinuated how good he could do when Hotch finally let him go with them to the cities. After the Montgomery Killer Case (which entered in the history of the BAU was one of the most quickly-resolved cases in decades), the team had already been called for five cases in different parts of the country. Reid always stayed with Garcia in her office, giving to them statistics and general knowledge when they wanted to confirm some theory. He wanted to keep his shoot lessons, but with Gideon, not with Hotch, a decision that was taken with curiosity by Jason's part and relief for both the leader and the genius.

Reid was well-wanted by everyone in the BAU. Morgan saw him as his little brother. Elle saw him as a great company, but not the kind of man she would date. For Jason, he was his consideration son. For JJ, her first maternal instinct. And for Garcia he was just "the cutest thing she had ever seen among the troglodytes of the FBI guys", like he was a particular teddy bear she needed to protect from malignant persons who would like to catch a scissor and cut the teddy bear's head. People like Hotch, which relationship with him before the shooting lesson's episode could be summarized by a "good morning" and a "good night", and, after it, by nothing. Reid knew he was wanted by everyone but Hotch, and, actually, he was ok with that. He didn't like Hotch either. Not even a little, especially after what happened in the shooting lesson.

So, that's how they worked. A respectful relationship, when necessary. And, now, Reid was about to have his first shooting proof. When Hotch heard about it, couldn't help but smile while thinking that he would never pass. After all, Hotch was a profiler too and could notice that Spencer was a type of accommodate person, who seems in dangerous and stressful situations an engine to do things without hesitation or deep wisdom. In the comfort of the FBI's Office with no one to hold him by behind, like Hotch, he would never pass.

Their last case involved the kidnapped of a rich girl, who had a twin sister, and there was a happy ending. Just when they returned, they heard that Reid hadn't pass in the fire exam. Elle, who was a friend of the examiner, was the first to know. When Morgan was told about it, he just though that it couldn't have happened in a different way. JJ didn't care much, to tell the truth. She shared the same opinion with Gideon: it isn't necessary a gun to kill someone. And Aaron did his best to not fall in laugher. Poor little boy.

"Gideon" Elle said when the old profiler entered in the Office: "Reid failed his exam".

"Well, he can try again in two weeks" the other answered trying to not let clear his disappointment. He just made what he felt he needed to do, by saying that nobody should make fun of him with it. He knew they would obey, but, of course, would talk to Hotch about it later, sure that the leader would do something to bring this subject afloat. Elle and Morgan nodded, but Derek made a funny face when Gideon was leaving. Then, Derek took a whistle that he had bought this morning for his dog Clooney and hid it in his hands and Reid, this time without his little tie, entered in the Office with his head down. He wasn't sad for not have passing the test, and yes because he had given Hotch the pleasure to see him fail, he knew the boss wanted it, and had given Gideon the disgust to see him fail.

He was a disaster, an idiot, a newbie, a weak. He didn't know how life worked, how the BAU worked, neither how himself worked. Everything he knew, he learned in books, but books are a waste of time that weren't very good to give real life experiences. How was he supposed to have a job in a place like that? How, for God's sake?

"For God's sake, Reid, don't make this face" he heard Morgan saying, walking near to him while he sat. The first thing that crossed his mind was that he would give an advice again, like he had done when Hotch first told him about shooting. He wasn't in the mood to play that conversation again, but what came was worse. Not seeing how upset his friend was, Morgan gently put the whistler in his neck and said, under Elle's eyes:

"If you need anything, it's just…" and refereed.

Truly, if Reid had Morgan's body type, he would give a punch at him. Or anything similar. But, as the world we live in is the world we live in, he couldn't do that. He could do nothing but pull out that thing from his neck and pinch his hair, looking down and sighing of hate. He had never felt so much angry in his life than that moment, as the little laughs Morgan was making while returning to his desk filled in the Office. Elle noticed the situation and gave a disapproval look to Morgan, even if he wasn't seeing, as JJ appeared among them with a new case in hands.

"Fun is over, we have a case" she said, thinking that they all were making jokes or something. Morgan stopped laughing and Reid, thinking that he would have to stay with Garcia again, was about to go to her Office when JJ stopped him.

"Wait, Dr. Hotch said me that he wants you with us".

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_Where love reigns, there is no desire for power, and where power predominates, there is a lack of love. One is the shadow of the other – Jung, __Swiss psychiatrist._

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**The Best Things in Life - Chapter 4  
"Bodies and Guns"**


	7. LDSK

**Hey people, thanks for the nice comments and for putting my fic your Story Alert list ^^  
Author's Note: This chapter had majors spoiler from 6x01, "LDSK"**

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**The Best Things in Life – Chapter 4  
**"**LDSK"******

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_Love brings ideas and dangers – Heinrich Mann, German writer._

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The phrase caught all of them in surprise, but Elle and Morgan continued to walk to the Reunion Room. Reid looked skeptically to the blonde.

"Don't you two know that I failed the exam?"

"What exam? The gun's one? Oh, we all know" she said, not knowing what Reid was feeling. And the young felt extremely insignificant with it, having a feeling that, if JJ was saying that so naturally, nobody was that surprised that he had failed, like they would be surprised if he had passed. Reid tried his best to seem indifferent.

"So, what does he want from me?"

"Don't know. He just told me to call you".

Reid nodded slowly and followed JJ to the Reunion Room. Everybody was there, with Garcia in the computer, as usual. If Reid had not passed all those days with her in person, he would seriously begin to wonder if Garcia was a real person or a virtual assistant. Anyway, he sat down and looked at the screen. Gideon was staring at him with distant eyes, like Reid was a thing he needed to examine minutely. Hotch made a superhuman strength to not laugh at Reid's tinny figure, but, in the end, he wasn't sure that he wanted to laugh. In the deep of his heart, Hotch was feeling a strange pity for him, even if he didn't know it. Nobody told anything until JJ took the remote control and was about to explain the situation when they heard Garcia's voice filling the room:

"Hey, where's my little genius? Is he coming?"

The computer was in front of Gideon, who was in front of Reid, not allowing him and Elle, who sat by Spencer's side, to look at her. Morgan couldn't help but smile as Gideon, without saying anything, turned the computer, letting Garcia and Reid see each other. The happiest person in the FBI was wearing a green dress with a baby monkey tailored in it, with the sayings: "Save the World!" in white, and a headband full of marbles holding his yellow and curly hair. Reid just made a "hello" with his hands while wondering what in the world he had made to her to make Penny call him "my little genius", besides, of course, being one. Garcia let a surprised "Wow!" out.

"Don't tell me that you're going to travel again!"

"Wanna know? Not even I know what I'm doing here" he wanted to say something like, _Garcia, why don't you ask Hotch what he wants from me?_ but his will to live was bigger than that. Aaron, on the other hand, seemed to understand the irony.

"This time I want you to go with us, Dr. Reid, as I said before the shooting lessons. Armed or not".

Reid just nodded and, for one reason, he kept with his eyes on Hotch in the few seconds before JJ began to explain the case. Hotch wasn't as young as Reid, but he seemed to have something special. Reid remembered how worried his fiancée was in the hospital. Haley, was it her name? Haley or Hilary? No, no, it was Haley. She seemed to love Hotch with all her heart, and for one second Reid was able to have some type of fun wondering how someone could love Hotch. But, if they were going to get married, so he had to be in love with her too. Reid looked at Hotch's hands in the desk, already with a ring on it, and wondered how it would be like to love and be loved back by someone like him. Not knowing that, years and years in the future, he would be in the same situation as Haley, that one day he would use a ring with Aaron's name on it, that, one day in the future, he would not be able to hear Haley's name without feeling an explosion of jealousy, not knowing any of these things, how the Hotchners met and fell in love with each other was a history he really wanted to listen.

When JJ's voice entered in his ears, he found out it was a sniper in a city called Des Plaines, Illinois, who was shooting people in their bellies in the Franklin Public Park.

"Just one victim died, Henry Sachs" she said.

"And one of the victims has a bullet lodged at his spine" informed Hotch.

"Did anyone see anything?" asked Gideon.

"No, anyone" answered JJ.

"So, the profile is all we have" Morgan said, looking at the screen.

"The problem is that we never arrested any LDSK. We have little information" informed Gideon, taking his glasses away and putting them again, a tic he had when he was upset.

"What is an LDSK?" asked Elle, confused.

"'Long Distance Serial Killer'" answered Reid, who had had a lesson about it at Gideon's classes.

"Yeah? I've never heard about that" admitted Elle.

"Maybe it's because the FBI doesn't have good cases with them" said JJ.

"We faced an LDSK once. But we didn't catch him" informed Hotch.

"We just know that they are men, probably with military or police instruction, or even with law knowledge" Gideon began.

"And they always try contact with the media, right?" asked Reid.

"Right" said Gideon.

"But this guy hasn't made any contact yet" complained Morgan.

"He certainly will" guaranteed Hotch.

"The LDSK is a complicated case…" said Jason: "…because practically all serial killers relive their murders in some way, taking souvenirs, manipulating the bodies, but the LDSK one doesn't do that".

"Does it say that he is anti-social?" tried Reid.

"Maybe" said Hotch: "the truth is that we don't know much about them".

"I remember that the Beltway Shooters left a taro card in the crime scene" said Elle, before turning to JJ: "can you show us the bodies? Did he do something like that?"

JJ was doing Elle's request when Reid said:

"I think that the weirdest thing in this entire crime is that he doesn't kill the victims. He shot in their bellies, not in the head or heart".

"Just like me" he couldn't prevent this though as JJ nodded her head negatively. There was nothing left in the bodies.

"The only thing he left as a signature is the life of the victims. Reid is right. He doesn't kill them, he hurts them" said Morgan.

"The question is: he doesn't want to kill his victims, or he can't?" asked Hotch, looking at Reid. _Maybe_, he left in the air, _maybe the unsub isn't killing these people because he doesn't know how to hold a gun, how to make the three steps that Hotch had learned in the SWAT and that Reid couldn't follow_. The newbie understood everything behind the question and looked at Hotch with nothing more in his eyes than an attitude that could be told as an indifferent one, like: "I know what you are talking about and I don't care". But the truth was that he cared. For good or for bad, he cared about what Hotch was thinking about him, maybe more than what Gideon could be thinking. Sometimes we feel more connected with people who despise us than with the ones who believe in us, because we want to change the opinion. And Hotch knew the power he was exerting towards Reid. If, in the beginning, he was happy with it, after having his live salved by Reid it changed. He knew he couldn't feel that superior to who had saved his life; he knew it was wrong, but he couldn't control his anger. He didn't know if the other knew what was passing in his mind, but Hotch could feel how bad Reid still wanted to impress him. And their insecurities made him feel connected to him, after all. Hotch wondered that, maybe, if someday they stopped with their psychological war, maybe they could be something close to the word "friends". He didn't know how it would be done, and much less that it would work in the future.

But they didn't have time to think about the future right now, especially when they had a case to solve. They entered in the plane just talking about the only and old profile they had about LDSKs and how JJ could calm the public opinion. This time, neither Reid nor Hotch played fools by sitting at certainly distance for each other. The travel was very fast and the first thing they decided when they arrived was that Hotch, Morgan and Reid would go to the crime scene to meet Detective Calvin, while Gideon and Elle would go to the hospital talk to the doctors who helped the victims. JJ would do what she always did, talk to the media. But Jason was facing the fact that he needed to be just like the birds he observed, letting the little birds fly by themselves. So, he went to talk with the leader in the exit of the hotel after putting their bags there.

"Hotch, slow down" he asked, trying to reach the man who was walking fast near to the street. The others were already in the SUVs. Hotch stopped and looked at him.

"I'm not a child, you know" Gideon said, panting. After taking a breathe, he said: "look, may I ask you a question? Why do you want Dr. Reid to go with us?"

"Well…" he had caught Aaron. "I don't know very well. I think that I'm ready to accept him as a formed member. So, he goes with us, even not having a gun".

"He hasn't had a gun yet" pointed Jason. "I know that it is none of my business, but why did he want to stop having the classes with you? You were a SWAT, one of our best shooters, I thought he would like…"

"This you'll need to ask him" interrupted Hotch, ashamed by what he had done with Reid. If he had taught right, maybe the new agent would have passed the test. Gideon was surprised by the aggressive tone in Hotch's voice and the other noticed.

"…Sorry, Jason. I didn't mean to… Well. I think that I'm a bit upset these days".

"Yes, I can see… Anyway, Reid's with us now, right? So, let's work".

"Yeah" he grumbled, going with him to the SUV.

-.-

Hotch, Reid and Morgan drove in silence, feeling a cold breeze coming from the grey clouds and, when they got to the park, realized how beautiful it was: trees and flowers everywhere, such a wide space for kids to play. Reid had already read about how trees helped to keep the air clean and could recognize that some of those trees that were houses for squirrels and birds had more than 60 years. Nobody could tell that park would hide a serial killer, ready to put a bullet on your body.

Detective Calvin was a black, middle-aged woman who didn't seem to put much trust on the BAU, contradicting most police departments in the country. She analyzed them: Hotch with his impeccable suit, Morgan with a leather jacket and Reid inside a green blouse and a light-brown jacket that matched perfectly his color's eyes. Maybe because of the wind, Spencer's hair was a little more messy than the usual.

They greeted and Calvin explained that those orange cones they could see marked the victims where they fell. Hotch was the first to notice that, from the point where he was, he could have a perfect view of every single cone.

"The LDSK was here when he shot" he said, and Calvin got extremely surprise: the place from when the unsub shot was an unsolved mystery for the Des Plaine's police.

"How can you know it?" she asked, seeming angry and shocked at the same time.

"From where I'm standing, I have a perfect view of the park" answered Hotch, and Reid, who liked to try to interpret people's face to know what they could be thinking, was sure he saw an ashamed look on the woman's face, like "how can I be so dumb to not notice it?"

Morgan looked at Hotch's feet: his boss was standing at a handicapped symbol.

"Is he a disabled person?" Morgan asked, with a little bit of irony.

"Hey" Calvin said: "The last time I went here, I don't remember seeing this handicapped symbol"

Hotch gave some steps ahead so they could see the symbol better. For everyone's surprise, the picture seemed to melt. Hotch's footprints were as white as the…

"Ink!" said Morgan: "the unsub painted it, so this strategic place would always be empty for him".

The wind got stronger. Detective Calvin closed her jacket and the youngest profiler had a slight vision of Hotch's waist, now white because of his clothing, contracting with the dark of the suit. He clearly remembered how it was bleeding, on the Montgomery Killer case. How he put his hand on it, feeling his boss' red liquid taking his fingers and how he calmed him down by doing nothing more, nothing less than squeezing his other hand. It was his first month being a FBI Federal Agent and he and his boss got themselves on that situation… What was going to happen next?

Reid tried to not blush and it seemed to be impossible when he looked at the park building entrance and a thought suddenly grew on his mind.

"The LDSK isn't a sadist" he said, embracing himself, and was about to explain when Hotch asked what he was talking about.

"Look" he answered: "let's say that the unsub really painted this handicapped symbol and used it as his strategic point. But, after the shoot, the LDSK needs to get the hell out of this park; people could follow the noise and discover that there is always a car in this handicapped symbol, he would be discovered. So, he has no time to see his victims suffering: he shoots and goes away. You can see that this point is distant from the park building entrance".

"Very nice" said Morgan: "the desire to see his victims suffer is not bigger than the fear to be caught… He can't be a sadist"

Hotch tried to hide a smile for Reid, but the other saw it and didn't get happy. After being disdained, after saving his life and being harassed by Hotch, everything he received back was a shy smile. Reid made such an angry face that couldn't destroy the beauty of his traces and Hotch looked away, a pressure on his heart, and faced Calvin, who was trying to not look so skeptical while everything they said seemed to make sense.

-.-

Back to the Police Department, Morgan, Hotch and Reid met Elle and Gideon: the team sat in a table and began to discuss what they had. Gideon told them about Dr. Landman, a very arrogant surgeon who didn't want to shake hands with him, and how he was sure he'd take the bullet away from the victim's spine; Elle discussed with them her theory on the police shift changes – the LDSK hurt the victims between 2:55 and 3:15 in the afternoon while the police did their shift changes, always between 3:00 and 3:30. There are fewer cops on the streets on these thirty minutes.

"How many people out of the Law Enforcement would know it?" asked JJ, appearing to them after a very boring time waiting the telephone to ring.

"None, I'd say, unless the LDSK is a cop's relative" answered Hotch.

"Or if he is at the Law Enforcement" said Reid.

"Gideon" Morgan asked: "are you sure that this Dr. Landman isn't the kind of Hero Complex, and…"

"But he's not a cop" opined Elle.

"Maybe he has a cop on his family" opined JJ.

They were fantasying too much, thought Hotch, and was about to send them to reality when their door opened and Dr. Landman himself entered, with the clean bullet in an evidence bag. Praying for the doctor to not been listening their accusations towards him, JJ made her best smile and received the bag. The doctor walked away saying something like "the patient is going to have full recovery, as I said" and let them alone.

Gideon sighed and Reid thought that Hotch was a better boss than Dr. Landman would be. The oldest profiler broke the silence by ordering JJ to send the bullet to Quantico, where it would be analyzed. JJ did it and then they were wandering on the many possibilities they had to deal with. What can be the age of the LDSK? Is he a cop? Was he a cop? They needed the bullet; it'd tell if it came from a gun used by policemen. Hurting the victims and not standing there to see their suffering makes him a non-sadistic, and it would open the possibility of a Hero Complex. If it was really a Hero Complex, they'd need to investigate all the medical team, especially Dr. Landman.

Finally, they realized they needed the bullet and would have to wait for it; it was getting dark outside and Reid went to another room in the Department to get some coffee. He looked through the window while the hot coffee with chocolate warmed him from the inside and it somehow remembered him of the nights he slept with his mother in her bed. He tried to comfort himself by thinking that she was being well-cared at the institution and received his letters…

…The letters! Since the day he saved Hotch's life, he didn't have time to write another one. There were so many things he wanted to say to Diana… But it would have to wait until he was on the 5 Stars Hotel the FBI put them on.

Then, when Reid joined the rest of the team on their office, Morgan was talking something with Garcia, one on the other side of the computer, and they were smiling. Spencer looked at them. It had been clear, since the beginning of his journey at the BAU, that Morgan and Garcia had a deep friendship. If they really were in love, the agents seemed to make fun at it. Fantasying about other people's personal lives was a thing Spencer really enjoyed doing because it helped him to improve his psychological abilities. This quirk was born when Reid entered on college and began to live together with people much older than him: fantasying about who they had slept with, what they'd do in some special situation…

As the coffee went down Reid's throat, he quietly took a look at his new team. Morgan was a good person, a real ladies-man: he certainly had no problems with women, and seemed to like Garcia very much. However, Reid was sure he would never catch them kissing each other on some dark place at the FBI's Office, despite of how sexy they'd look if they did it. JJ was the mother type, always in a hurry, always solving problems. Reid analyzed her clothes: a very simple blouse and jeans. He pictured her in a long dress with make-up and saw the most beautiful woman on Earth. Elle, by her side, wasn't beautiful; at least she wasn't the kind of woman Reid liked. Even being impossible to picture her with a pink, full of ruffles and bows dress, Spencer had the sensation he could cont on her when he needed.

Reid looked at Gideon and felt an explosion of proud, admiration. If there was a book about Jason's life, his disciple would be the first to buy it. He was sure that the old agent had his moments of despair and anger (he was just a human like all of them), but, at the same time, he seemed to be so wise, so… Spencer hadn't a word to describe. _Respectful_.

When Reid put his eyes on Hotch, who now seemed to play with his ring, several thoughts passed him by: it was not just how he met Haley, it was about their first kiss, who asked who in marriage, if they slept together, where they were going to spend their honeymoon, how Aaron's face, Aaron's masculine and confident face became when he cried, if he cried at all.

Oh, if Reid could enter in his boss' mind, what would he find? What dirty thought, what shameful memory would he find and keep as a secret weapon for the days Hotch wanted to go over him? What secrets did he hide inside his heart, behind the suit?

-.-

In Reid's hotel room, there was an almost perfect reproduction of David Friedrich's _Wanderer above the Sea of Fog_ embellishing the sepia-like walls that saved the room and its king-size bed. Reid had already seen this picture in his studies, but never liked it. When he first saw the painting, he thought that the man got lost and now was going to die on that mountain because there was no food; he'd die totally alone, and his body would be swallowed by the fog and the glorious nature he was aiming at when he climbed the mountain.

After the reunion, Spencer took a long shower at the fancy bathroom and, after getting dry, lied naked on the bed, looking at the ceiling and thinking that it had been a genial day: they were close to get the LDSK; Reid had no need to shoot anyone and Hotch left him alone.

When Reid was accepted in the Las Vegas University, Diana held him and told him that he could study Engineering, Math, Philosophy, Psychology, whatever he wanted, but he was still a child. Lying naked, staring at the ceiling, Reid took a look at himself the same way he had analyzed his co-workers. He was becoming a man. A shy, nerd and skinny man, but a man. He'd work, help people and get money. He just couldn't tell he was a man like Hotch and Morgan because he was virgin. When you study the entire day and has a schizophrenic mother that allows you to just read books, write and watch educative movies, getting a girlfriend or a "journal of crap" is almost impossible.

It was not Reid had no idea of what two people need to do to get a baby (or a disease, or a deception, or other thing). He knew it, but kisses and sexual contacts had never passed by his body. No woman would like him, but, at the same time, Reid didn't want to pay for sex. No, not at all. He would never admit, but in the deep of his heart he wanted loose his virginity with the girl he truly loved.

Reid had no ways to know that he was going to leave this way of thinking very soon.

-.-

In Hotch's hotel room, there was an almost perfect reproduction of David Friedrich's _Wanderer above the Sea of Fog_. He had already seen this picture on the Internet and liked it very much. When he first saw it, he thought that the man in the painting was an adventured and that he was going to climb all the mountains ahead, because his journey was just in the beginning. He was facing the dangers of the fog and the glorious nature by himself, and would win.

After the reunion, Hotch took a short shower – he was trembling of cold and wanted to be dry soon. Then, he put his pajamas and lied on the bed, staring at the ceiling and analyzing everything that happened. Reid surprised him with his thoughts and his way to disdain Hotch when he tried to smile at him. Now, the regret was growing – regret for being so "bully" with his new subordinate, for consciously trying to make him down, for pressing himself against him in the shooting lesson. He didn't need to love his co-workers; he just needed to respect them and everything would be alright. Reid had every single right to be mad at him.

Hotch thought about Haley. He missed her, missed her beautiful face and her calm voice. He also missed how wild she got when he irritated her. The ring seemed to shine even more when he remembered that they had already managed to organize their wedding; it would be realized next month, Hotch was anxious and happy at the same time. All the BAU would be invited (including Erin, but she'd probably don't go). Aaron loved Haley and hoped to be with her forever.

Hotch had no ways to know that he was going to leave this way of thinking very soon.

-.-

They combined to meet in the following morning at eight o'clock. As soon as Reid got there, Morgan told him that the tech-girl Garcia had already called him with the result of the bullet analysis: it was a type of gun used by the Marine Rangers (or by anyone with training) and it had such a short barrel that made a long distance shot very difficult.

"The LDSK would use something as difficult as this weapon just to prove how skillful he is" opined Reid, and everyone agreed. The doctor got shocked at it. He had to admit the small envy he felt when he realized how confident the LDSK was towards guns. Reid, of course, wouldn't shoot people for no reason if he had a weapon, but having this power would be amazing… When he pictured the LDSK wielding that gun, playing God by choosing – apparently, randomly – the ones he'd shoot at, he realized how bad he wanted to carry a weapon.

"Reid" called Hotch. The newbie turned at him. "Can you do the geographic profiler?"

"No, I can't" he answered, feeling good because of Hotch treating him like a real member; it was a pity he couldn't do the geographic profiler because of… "All the shootings were not centered on one location" Reid completed, and received a nod of agreement from his boss.

"It's pretty obvious that the LDSK has an intimate knowledge of law enforcement" Gideon opined. They all agreed and Detective Calvin joined them, asking if they had more information.

Hotch shared with her their theory that the killer had a deep knowledge of the law enforcement. While they were talking, Reid moved close to JJ and asked her what she was looking for on the map. The blonde told him that she was finding it strange the paths the LDSK did to get to his victims. Then, the genius took a look at it and suddenly realized that the unsub shot his last victims only 1/6th of a mile outside of Calvin's jurisdiction.

"Crossing jurisdictional lines would make it much more difficult for police departments to pool evidence" Reid thought, and it was like an explosion at his mind. He turned to the detective and his boss and told them:

"Look, Detective. I think that the LDSK is one of your offices" he said, and they all got shocked on how direct Reid was being. Hotch was about to gave him a look like "please, shut up" when the doctor explained his theory and the team was practically obligated to admit that it had been a nice thought. However, Calvin got very mad and insisted that the MO matched someone with military experiences.

Reid was trying to politely prove his theory when the Des Plaines Police Department's phone rang. Detective Calvin got it and they saw her face losing its color: the LDSK shot three more people.

-.-

Reid felt like he was inside a SWAT film as they drove full speed at the new crime scene. Now he would be able to do a geographic profiler – the LDSK shot two men and a woman at a coffee shop, not at the park. JJ was still planted at the Department, waiting for the criminal to try contact, and Elle was studying the old profile they had on LDSKs, trying to find something useful.

The two SUVs parked at the coffee shop, which was surrounded by policemen. Hotch, Reid, Morgan, Gideon and Detective Calvin entered on the establishment and the oldest profiler was the first who spoke:

"He knows we're here" Gideon said, and Reid turned at him.

"That's why he changed his safety place" he said, and Jason agreed.

"He had everything on the park" Morgan informed, seeing how nervous Calvin was: "he had a safety point, full vision of his victims… But now he attacked at a crowed urban place, I bet someone saw him".

"We need to give the profile to the media immediately" Hotch simply said, getting out of the crime scene, waiting for his team to follow him. For the first time, he wasn't wasting his time thinking about how strange and shy Reid was, and yes how they would use everyone's abilities to catch this criminal.

-.-

So, Hotchner used his pretty face to give the profiler to the media. Gideon, Jareau and Sgt. Weigart (a commander they met at the coffee shop, who had more faith on the BAU than Calvin) stayed quiet as Aaron told them that the LDSK was a man between 30 and 40 years, with military experience who drove a large sedan, but not large enough to get attention. He had no friends and always blamed others.

"This man has some kind of job where he can prove his superiority to others, and he probably changes jobs frequently"

Gideon noticed how the atmosphere changed when Hotch informed that there was a possibility of the criminal being a member of the Des Plaines Police Department. Jason was used with pissed off cops who always try to cover up their own faults.

"Ahh… So we can say that he is driving a white van, too?" asked an officer, sarcastically. Hotchner looked at him with anger but Sgt. Weigart rebuked Scott McCarty, the ironic cop.

Reid heard something about how inappropriate that cop's joke was, but didn't ask about it. He was too concentrate wondering how he could make a geographic profiler when Elle came to him and informed her co-worker that Hotch and Sgt. Weigart were planning to recreate the park's shootings. Reid tried to conform himself by thinking that Hotch chose him to play one of the victims for no personal reason.

-.-

Things happened very fast; both Aaron and Spencer attempted to forget everything about their lives and focused on the case – recreating the shoots at the park would help them to understand more about the criminal's mind as the public could help the FBI by paying attention at the profiler. Reid stayed at his position with a phone and a camera, answering Hotch's questions:

"Can you see the car?"

"Yes, I can".

"Are you able to see the gun?"

"No, I'm not".

Aaron's voice wasn't as penetrating as it was on the plane, on Reid's first case. The genius seemed to be getting used with his boss' voice.

Everything was going right: Elle and Morgan were playing the victim's roles with Spencer. JJ, Gideon and Hotch were on a police van with Calvin and Weigart. As they were studying the criminal's point of view, JJ called their attention for the TV inside the van – there was a local new report informing the population about the recreating - there was a journalist team parked outside the park on that exactly moment - and…

"The FBI believes that one of the policemen of Des Plaines Police Department is the LDSK. Stay with us for more information, and…"

JJ turned to Weigart, very angry.

"What was that? Only your men knew about this theory, one of them must have leaked the story!"

Sgt. Weigart seemed to be very ashamed and was about to answer when Gideon pointed at the sky, one more tic he had when he realized something.

"The man who released the theory is a great suspect, because…"

"…Because this is the contact we were waiting for" completed Hotch, and his ex-boss agreed. JJ sighed and they went outside the park, knowing exactly what was necessary to do – talk to the journalists to find out who told them about the theory of the criminal being a policemen. However, Jenkins, the reporter's surname, didn't want to pass them the number because he thought it would be anti ethical. For no one's surprise, he quickly gave them the informant's cell phone when Gideon casually informed that he could be arrest for hampering a federal investigation.

Hotch called Garcia, and she got happy to let them know how she could find the suspect's location by his cell phone while Calvin asked Gideon why he didn't want to pull Elle, Reid and Morgan out of the park – if the criminal was there, couldn't he shoot them?

"If I take them away now, he'll realize something is happening and then he may shoot"

Suddenly, Hotch looked at them with despair.

"The owner of the cell phone is here right now" he said, and they all widened their eyes for the thought that the criminal was with them, could shoot anyone he wanted to.

Garcia called them and informed that the owner of the cell phone was no one else but McCarty, who was…

"…Playing the unsub!" exclaimed Sgt. Weigart. "I put them there as a punishment for being an asshole with you when you gave the profile" he said while trying to follow Hotch, who was already walking fiercely to the policemen, declaring that they had no ways to know if McCarty was actually the unsub, but he was the leaker.

An annoyed McCarty was taken away from the van where he used to play the criminal, and was walking to the Police Department, dumbly trying to explain why he gave the theory to the media as the people in the place breathed with a mix of relief and worry – why would a policemen shoot innocent citizens? At the same time… If McCarty shot these people, he'd be out of the streets right now. They'd be safe.

Hotch sighed below the insistent heat and thought if they were going to go home – was this case solved? He looked at Reid – he had made a good job in his second case. He looked at Reid, an erect and, by its way, imposing figure; his camera on his fallen hands, his legs a little bit separated from each other and his hair swinging at the weak wind. He looked at Reid, his subordinate's perfectly symmetrical face, a face that at the same time exhaled innocence and wisdom, his vacant honey-colored eyes, and thought that, when Reid's anger was over, they could…

Hotch couldn't complete his thoughts because Detective Calvin began to ask him something about the case, and Reid examined what was going on – McCarty was being arrested… What was happening, they found out he is the suspect? Reid knit his browns and looked at Hotch, like his boss' by itself imposing figure would answer his questions. Aaron had put his sunglasses and it made him look like a rich gangster, someone Reid wouldn't like to annoy. Then, he confirmed something he had analyzed on Hotchner since the day they met – he was a freak for control, but had a tendency to bite more than he could eat. Smiling, Reid had quiet pleasure thinking about how nervous Hotch must have become when he realized that it was his duty to put Reid on the team. His anger towards Hotch was turning on a kind of pity, a respectful pity.

And now, it was almost sure that McCarty was the unsub and he wouldn't shoot anyone today. However, the real criminal would.

Reid, distracted, felt Morgan's strong arms grabbing him by his shoulders and casting him on the ground. Spencer – by the second time being all of a sudden grabbed by one of his co-workers – protected his face with his hand and finally heard a distant shoot. He looked right at Derek, who lay by his side and said, before the genius could scream anything:

"Can't you hear the shoots? The LDSK's here!"

It was like an organized mess. For the first time, Reid saw himself in the middle of a cross-fire and could do nothing but lay in the grass, trying to keep himself calm. When he shot Mundy, he acted by self-defense, and that self-defense was based on attacking the enemy. But, now, his instinct of preservation was telling him to shut his fear up and trust on his team. Elle, more experienced on field camp than Spencer, lay immediately and moved her eyes here and there, anxious to find the shooter – Morgan was still with a hand on Reid's back and told him that he knew nothing about what was happening or what they should do. The three agents who were playing the victims saw that McCarty received a shoot right at the forehead.

Outside the park, the rest of the BAU agents, Calvin and Weigart put themselves on the ground, all of them caught in surprise, as McCarty's body fell on the ground and someone on a green sedan put a rifle back inside the car.

-.-

Knowing that the LDSK wasn't aiming at him or his co-workers didn't make it any easy. Knowing that, if you're on the wrong time, at the wrong place, you can die in less than a minute with a shoot in the forehead was a difficult reality to accept, and Reid tried to re-focus on the case as they frantically tried to understand what had happened on the Police Department.

"How could he know that we were re-creating the shoots?" asked Calvin, nervous.

"He certainly heard the cops talking about it" opined Morgan, who didn't ask sorry for Reid for casting him on the ground, and yes told him to be more careful.

"Oh, so my men go talking about everything that's happening on the Department for everyone who wants to listen?" asked Weigart, sad for losing a man, even an ironic man like McCarty.

"Yes, they go" answered Morgan, a little bit offended. "Pissed off cops talk loud, didn't you know?"

Knowing that the FBI agent had already been a cop, Weigart got quiet and turned to Gideon, who was talking something about the criminal going "out of the scrip".

"What do you mean?" asked JJ. Reid was keeping his mind busy by doing the geographic profile.

"When he shot citizens, he didn't want to kill them, he wanted to hurt them. But, now, he shot a policeman at his forehead, obviously with a lot of angry, aiming to make him dead" Gideon gave a full of despair smile. "He got angry because

McCarty played him; he wants no one to get the credit for what he has done".

"People" said Reid: "I've got the geographic profile". He turned back to the blackboard and they all looked at him.

"What did you find out?" asked Hotch, and there was so much hurry on his voice that Reid for one second thought that Haley wouldn't like to hear him so hasty asking her to prepare his breakfast.

"The crime scenes, the park and the coffee shop, are triangulated on two local hospitals. It seems like he wants to make sure the victims are near to a hospital when they get shoot at".

Hotch and Gideon knew what they had to do and worked fast, and on that moment Aaron didn't mind that Jason was giving orders:

"It's not a cop, so we can revive the Hero Complex theory. Morgan, Elle and Garcia, take a look at Dr. Landman's life"

"Gideon, Reid and I are going Dr. Landman hospital. There's definitely something happening at these hospitals"

"I'm going too!" exclaimed Calvin.

Spencer didn't have time to think that he was being called on a mission as Hotch, while was passing by him, gently took his arms as a guide, and when Spencer seemed to be following Hotch perfectly to the SUVs the boss let him go and they entered the car. Hotch drove full of speed as Spencer explained the Hero Complex to Detective Calvin. Gideon felt proud of him.

When the agents walked in the hospital, they took different paths – Calvin and Gideon, receiving a call from Morgan telling him that Landman began his career as a special army's doctor and was discharged in 2001, and since then he was working at this Des Plaine's hospital. He had tried to be the Chief of Surgery one month ago, but didn't have it.

"A stressful situation" said Gideon before ending the call. The best profiler in the country and the woman found the arrogant surgeon checking X-rays, and he, understanding that he's a suspect, let them know his alibis: when McCarty died, he was talking with another doctor, Dr. Hannah Pate. Then, he completed by saying he drives a two-seat Maserati, not a very good car for a LDSK.

Hotch and Reid, analyzing every patient and nurse in the lobby of the hospital, received a call from Gideon asking them to find Hannah to confirm the alibi. While they're walking to the ER, where Pate is, Hotch said:

"What we are doing is useless" Reid looked at him with a curious face, and the older man answered: "Landman is not the LDSK. I mean, this shooter wants to be recognized, he wants to be a star, but Landman is already a star to his patients. And more – if he is a hostage of the Hero Complex, he'd want to save his victims. He did it, but think about the coffee shop shoots. How can he operate three people at the same time?"

Reid agreed, serious.

"You're right... So, what do we do?"

Hotch contracted his lips and looked around. Then, he saw a nurse carrying a bleeding child. The girl was afraid of her own blood, but the nurse was a gentle woman and told her that everything was going to be alright. Then, she quickly called a doctor, who could take care of the child. At the same time, the nurse tried to calm the child's parents down. Always with a smile.

"The staff of the hospital emergency rooms have to deal with a lot of people at the same time before the doctors come" opined Reid, still looking at the scene.

"Yeah…" said Hotch and, then, put his eyes on the hospital's schedule at the walls. "They run on the same timeline of the cops".

Hotchner and Reid looked at each other – a look of understanding. For the first time, they were completely connected to each other; they knew so exactly what to do that words were unnecessary. Walking together to the Chief of Nursery as the night fell behind them and the wind got worse, they asked her if she knew the man they were looking for: a narcissist, arrogant male nurse who would be always trying to help as many people as possible. She widened her eyes and told them about a guy named Philip Dowd, ex-Marine Ranger.

Just a few steps distant from them, Dowd was noticing that three FBI agents and a Des Plaines Detective were on the hospital – totally non-hurt, speaking quietly and looking around. An explosion of fear and angry got on him, and the LDSK could feel that he was about to be caught. Trying to not think about what could happen to him in the jail and how they had found him, he inhaled deeply and thought about getting the hell out of the crowded hospital, but it was impossible. Then, he saw a dark-haired guy and a thin one showing their credentials and talking to the Chief of Nursery. He hid himself on a wall and tried to not look so desperate.

"Reid, Gideon is on the Surgery Section. Go tell him what we've found out" ordered Hotch, and Spencer did what he was told. Then, when Dowd realized that there was a federal agent going at his direction, his world stopped and he let his instincts took over him; knowing that it was the end of the line, the adrenaline pulsating, he walked fiercely to the agent, who was now strangely looking at the ground while walking.

Spencer could hear Dowd's steps before leaning his head up and got hit by a punch. Dowd showed his rifle – Dowd always tried to keep a small rifle inside of his nurse apron -, falling on the ground instantly. The few people who saw this act of violence weren't able to scream before Dowd shot at the electrical box, letting the lobby into semi-darkness. Hotch, hearing the shoots and the screams, put his own gun out and saw Dowd raising Reid up, an arm on his chest, holding him and putting the rifle at his brown and short hair.

Spencer took total conscience of what was going on when he felt the unmistakable coldness of a gun at his skin. His heart seemed to stop when he realized how close he was to the death – the death was there, right behind him, holding him, and Hotch – for the growth of Reid's despair – could not avoid the fear on his dark eyes as the image of Dowd with his subordinate entered on his mind. All the others nurses took the patients away from the scene, and Calvin and Gideon realized what was happening and called the others and the SWAT. Jason tried very hard to don't think about what was going on with Reid.

Hotchner and Philip faced each other, Hotch trying to don't look at Reid's symmetric face that was a mirror of Spencer's sensations – Aaron could notice how hard the genius was trying to don't scream, don't cry, don't tremble, to stay quiet. He had his eyes closed and bit his low lip. Hotch took a deep breathe and suddenly the entire hospital seemed so quiet – there was no patients crying out for help, no doctors telling them what to do with their injuries, no one seemed to know that Hotch, Reid and Dowd were there, each other's hostages, and that Aaron was aware that he wouldn't be able to bear it if one of his subordinates died in front of him on one of his first cases as the main leader.

"What do you want?" Hotch asked, and Reid thought that his boss' voice was like it was on his first plane travel: totally controlled, cold, even indifferent. Thinking that he should be like that if he wanted to stay in the BAU – don't show fear, keep doing on your thing, remain strong, because that's what the serial killers search for, that's what they like: fear – helped Reid to take deep breathes. He needed to keep himself calm, and knowing that Hotch could take care of the situation was almost balsamic.

"What do I want?" asked Dowd, and now it was his turn to seem confused and scared. Hotch heard the SWAT square approaching them and it made him think that Philip could get scared and just kill Reid, but he didn't looked like that. Then, Hotch understood that he wasn't going to shoot Spencer for free – the agent was just a human shield. "If you want to shoot me, do it now or a lot of people are going to die!" he shouted at Reid's ears, whose lip began to bleed because of the strength he was biting it.

Hotchner, fearing more for Spencer's life than for the "lot of people's lives", put his gun on the ground. When Dowd smiled madly at the scene, the boys were interrupted by Keith, one of the hospital's janitors, entering on the lobby with his broom: he was half-deaf and was cleaning the other side of the hospital. Not knowing what was happening he went around the hospital and entered on the lobby through his personal office. Seeing that one of the nurses was taking a hostage with a gun, he dropped his broom and Philip told Hotch:

"Now, we are all going to Keith's office, where we'll be able to talk without these SWAT around us" he said, and, with no choice, they went there, Hotch disarmed. It was a large office, and Dowd closed the door and pushed Reid to Hotch. Suddenly free, Spencer almost fell on the ground too because his legs were trembling so much, but Aaron grabbed him by his arm and the two agents found physical support on the wall behind them; Keith was sweating and was forced to join the BAU agents.

"I know you're disarmed" Philip told to Hotch, the rifle pointed at him. "Take your partner's gun off"

"He has no gun" said Hotch, and Dowd's eyebrows rose in surprise.

"How come an FBI agent doesn't carry a gun?" he asked, his heart racing when he realized that he wasn't going to get away from there as a free man, so, he needed to stay with them the more he could. He took a pair of flexi-cuffs out of his apron and ordered Keith to put it on them. After handcuffing them and himself, Keith was given a strike with the rifle that made him fell unconscious. Then, Dowd looked right at Hotch and Reid, and waited for an answer.

Hotch looked at Reid and saw that he opened hi mouth to talk back, but his fear was overwhelming. Why Reid didn't have a gun? It was a very good question, actually, Reid had no gun because he couldn't pass the exam, and he didn't pass the exam because he wasn't taught right. And he wasn't taught right because his bully and childish boss harassed him while he was trying to learn. So, it was Hotch's fault, everything was Hotch's fault. He was a bad man, he didn't take care well of his subordinates, he inexplicably wanted Spencer to go with him arrest a suspect twice, and now…

"I don't have a gun because I'm a profiler" Reid said, repeating the words Gideon had told him when they were talking about the gun's exam on the plane, a few days ago, when they were going to Des Plaines.

"A profiler" said Dowd with disdain: "it must be a very fancy job… You profiled me. Who do you think I am? What am I going to do next, what's my plan?"

Spencer didn't know how to interpret this phrase. Was Philip asking more about this job? What would happen if he stayed quiet? Suddenly, all this talks about guns made a plan grown up on Hotch's nervous mind. He needed to stop a man who had a rifle, and the only way to do it was shooting him. Aaron carried two guns: one at his belt and one at his leg. Reid knew it, but Dowd did not. He couldn't just bend over and pick up the gun, Philip would fill his head of bullets. But… If Reid could…

The riskier plan Hotch had ever formulated took form and Aaron, who wasn't a religious man, could only pray for Reid to understand. Noticing how nervous Reid was, he told him:

"Come on, genius. Answer him"

Hotch's tone was cold and angry. When Reid looked at him, he was penetrated by two blood-shot eyes and it almost made him think that Aaron was going to kill him too. The older man could see how afraid Reid was and how hard he was trying to not demonstrate it, and it cut Hotch's heart. But, at the same time, he tried to think that it was all going to be alright, Spencer was so smart that he could be able to understand the plan… And Hotch could apologize after it, after saying that…

"Answer him! But be aware that, if you say something wrong, he kills you"

Reid looked at the ground and felt like the office's walls were closing to them. He couldn't go panic, he couldn't go panic, he was totally alone with a serial killer who could put a bullet at his body anytime and his boss was showing all his savagery, all his hate, but he was not going panic…

"He's not able to talk, great surprise" Hotch said, looking at Dowd, trying to make Reid's burden lighter: "You are what we call a Long Distance Serial Killer, or LDSK. You are perfectionist, arrogant, rude, has no personal contacts, always carry a gun and you're an example of the Hero Complex too: you hurt your victims and then helps them just to be free to think how brave you are…."

Dowd interrupted Aaron, showing indignation:

"Do you know why I couldn't save the first one? Because the ambulance took 17 minutes, 17 minutes to get to the park, the incompetents!"

Hotch didn't seem to be shaken and completed, serious:

"…And your plan is to die on a hail of bullets"

Reid cleaned the small line of blood coming from his lower lip with his tongue and thought if dying was Hotch's plan too.

-.-

The SWAT was positioned outside of Keith's office; Elle, JJ and Morgan went there as fast as they heard that Hotch and Reid were Dowd's hostages. The media liaison put a hand at her heart and tried to find comfort with the thought that Hotch certainly was protecting Reid. Greenaway wanted to punch someone and was the one who took Hotch's weapon from the ground and now was holding it against his belly. The bald ex-cop walked aimlessly back and forth, thinking about how the SWAT would enter on Keith's office without getting anyone killed.

Gideon was trying to stay calm and, when the SWAT Chief showed his worries that the BAU agents were disarmed, Jason simply told him that "they have the profile".

-.-

"And now?" Dowd asked: "It's seems like you know everything about me. What are we gonna do?"

"The SWAT is trained to break if there's no reply from the hostages or from the kidnapper. So, they'll enter here and you'll be killed right after shooting us" Hotch answered. Anger, indifference, indemnity, flying over Reid's confused head.

"So…" Philip realized that Hotch wasn't afraid of his or his partner's death, and it scared him a little. The agent was right: how could he escape without being killed by the SWAT? They knew what he had done; he had no way out… Aaron realized the effect he was having on the LDSK and asked an unusual thing:

"Philip, now that I know how you feel, may I tell you how I fell?"

Reid looked at him, for the first time knowing that it wasn't the way Aaron behaved – he had a plan. For what he had seen on Hotch and for what people had told him about the dark-haired man, he'd never put his team on an unnecessary dangerous situation. He'd never poke a criminal like that. Something was going on – something that neither Dowd nor Spencer knew about.

Philip, for the first time, lowered his rifle and now seemed to look at Hotchner with some strange kind of respect. If the man inside the suit had no guns and if his ridiculous partner had no guns as well, the agents were handcuffed, and if they were going to be killed anyway, what was the problem about letting the man speak as long as he wanted?

"We're all dead, do what you want" he said, seeming strangely excited.

"They set me up. My co-workers had the profile too, they knew you'd be here armed, and still they sent me here with this kid who can't shoot a balloon even if it is immobile in front of him. They are probably laughing at me now"

Philip smiled. "They do it to me too. It happens with the best, there's always someone trying to pull us out of the scene…"

The thought that Hotch had some kind of plan and that it could help them to get out of that awful situation disappeared when Aaron told the truth – he could shoot nothing, he was a shame for the FBI. Reid felt his heart racing and his body entering on some kind of numb condition – the physical death in front of him, threatening to kill him with a rifle, the mental death by his side, killing him with words. The dark office, his tied hands, everything mingled at Spencer's mind. His cheek was still pulsating in pain – it wasn't the first punch he received, but it hurt anyway – when Hotch's voice filled the office:

"Let me do something before we're all killed".

"What?"

"Let me give this kid a lesson".

The butterflies on Reid's stomach finally got off the young's body when Spencer cried out at the violent kick he received from Hotch after being casted on the ground by his boss. So, it was finally happening: Aaron hated him, Aaron hated him with the deep of his soul and that's the reason he was beating him so bad, lingering every kick, that's why he's shouting that Reid's an asshole, that even a Dalmatian could learn how to shoot but he couldn't because he is a fucking genius who thinks that knows everything. Reid was screaming because it is a natural reaction at the pain, but the tears on his face were falling because he knew that he had been mistaken – mistaken for believing he could be able to do this job, that he and Hotch could get along, that he could carry a gun like Gideon… A gun…

…A gun like Hotch's gun, tied in his leg, the leg that was kicking Reid.

A flash of confused understanding. Was it the plan? It doesn't matter; Reid was seeing a gun right in front of him and he picked it, curling his body like a ball and hiding the weapon between his legs. Hotch inhaled deeply when he realized that Spencer did what he should do and only then stopped kicking, seeing Reid groaning of pain, lying on the ground. He looked at Dowd and thought if it would be more real if he set up some kind of sadistic smile, but the LDSK was already doing it, his rifle lowered.

"Are you feeling better?" he asked.

"I think he got the message" whispered Hotch, fearing what could happen if Reid didn't "get the message".

But Reid understood perfectly: welcoming the fear, who guides us to do things that we need but don't want to do, he understood that there would be no Hotch, no Gideon to save his life. When Aaron told him he was going to teach him how to shoot, didn't Reid think about how wonderful it would be to go on a case in which something would go wrong, and then he'd save the day? Well, it was really happening. Forgetting about what Jason would feel for him, letting his strange relationship with Hotch go away, thinking only about his own life, his own will to stay alive, Reid hardened his arms, quickly turned to Dowd and, aiming his forehead, shot him.

-.-

Reid took a mirror and looked at the handsome, yet hurt, man who appeared in front of him. Then, he felt the wind at his face and appreciated the organization of the doctors and cops – taking Dowd's dead body away, helping Keith, and fixing the electricity of the hospital. Less than one second after Reid's spectacular shoot, when he was still seeing the dead LDSK's body falling in slow motion, the SWAT broke in and Hotch shouted that everything was okay, they were the federal agents and there was a citizen hurt.

Then, Hotch himself helped Reid to stand up and a SWAT man took their flexi-cuffs of. Getting out of the dark office was like getting out of a grave, and Reid took a deep breathe while JJ, Morgan, Elle and Gideon frantically tried to follow them, asking them if they were alright, who shot the LDSK, why Reid was so injured. But their worried voices disappeared when Reid was moved to an ambulance to be examined by a nurse, still holding Hotch's gun. The man was still trembling a little, but to tell the truth he was relieved. He did everything right… He saved Hotch's life for the second time.

Aaron knew it. He realized how brave Reid was: he just needed to learn to control his emotions, because being a hostage was a relatively normal thing when it came to working on field. But it wasn't a good time to tell him it. Hotchner looked at him while he was looking at the mirror, analyzing his injuries, but the regret for beating him wasn't unbearable: it was the only way they could get the hell out of there alive, and Hotch was sure Reid would understand.

So, if Hotch was sure Reid would understand that he didn't hate him, that they could live in peace, that he never wanted to kick him or huff him, why did he go to his subordinate's ambulance to talk to him?

"Hey, Reid" he called, and the other looked at him with no fear, no disdain, no admiration, with nothing. On the contrary, Reid looked at him like he looked at JJ or Morgan: nothing but recognition that he was having a conversation with a co-worker.

"What?" he asked politely.

"You… You ok?" Hotch asked, a little bit ashamed. Spencer noticed it.

"Yes, I am. And you?"

"I'm alright. Look, I… I didn't want to hurt you. But you needed to catch the gun".

"I know, I understood since the beginning" Reid lied, and Aaron believed. It was something he wanted to believe.

"I just hope I didn't hurt you so bad" he said.

Reid looked deeply at him. No, actually he didn't hurt him so bad. Reid was abandoned by his father and a schizophrenic mother took care of him. He was gifted, but no one helped him to improve his abilities, on the contrary, other kids beat him everyday and there was no adult to make it stop. Then, he entered on Las Vegas University and things got better, but not too much. Now, he had his first job – because of his first job he shot two men (killing one), was harassed by his boss and now this boss was feeling sorry and trying to apologize.

Reid smiled.

"You didn't hurt me at all".

Hotch couldn't smile. He felt Reid gently poking him with his gun.

"Take it back, it's yours".

Suddenly, Hotch knew what he had to do.

"No, it's yours. Keep it, and use it".

Reid got surprised.

"But I don't shoot…"

"How come you don't know how to shoot? The way you shot Dowd was amazing" he said, quietly. Reid felt like he'd do a good thing if he gave Hotch some friendly punch at his shoulder, but instead he smiled more as Hotch completed:

"In my opinion, you passed the test".

"Well… You're my boss. If you say so…"

They met each other's eyes and Hotch wondered if it was time to apologize when he realized that the confident, kind-hearted way Reid was looking at him had already been apologized.

Gideon, who was watching the whole scene from a short distance, felt like his mission to link his two "sons" reached absolute success.

-.-

Hotch and Reid had to tell their history to the team three times until they finally stopped congratulating Reid for his cold-blood, and after Elle innocently insinuating that the two of them had a "good dynamic", they all got asleep except by Reid and Gideon.

The oldest agent saw that Reid not seemed to be happy: the kid was staring at the darkness of the sky that passed the plane by with a distant look. So, we went to talk to him and asked if he was alright. Feeling safe, Spencer shared his feelings.

"I mean… It's strange to think that I…" Spencer was trying to find a way for this word to look more….appropriate: "… That I killed a man".

"Are you feeling regret? Do you think you're a murderer?"

"No…" Spencer sighed. Jason sometimes was too direct. "… I think I'm feeling nothing. I took a man's life and, when I did it, I felt only relief because I knew he was going to kill Hotch and I, but now I'm…"

He said it quickly and stopped. He didn't know what to say.

"Spencer, if you think you aren't feeling anything, it doesn't mean that you are feeling nothing. There is something inside of you, of course there is – you know that serial killers are the only ones who really feel nothing when taking people's lives".

Gideon looked at him fondly, and Reid returned the look.

"You may be not recognizing this feeling because it's the first time you kill someone at this job, but you will feel something sooner or later. I have already talked with you about it in our classes. You didn't kill Dowd for fun, like you said he was about to shoot you and Hotch. When this feeling gets to you, there are three things you need to know…"

Reid fixed his honey-colored eyes on his mentor's, paying attention, but what he heard surprised him completely:

"… You did what you had to do, a lot of people are alive because of what you did and I'm proud of you" he smiled, a smile that made Spencer realized how paternal, how intelligent, how tired and old Jason was: "and you, if you don't mind, I'm going to sleep".

Reid could only smile at him. After watching Gideon laying on his chair and putting his head on his pillow, Spencer looked at the window again – he wasn't sleepy. He could see a distant star shining in the endless darkness and realized that there were some things in life, like this endless darkness, that he just couldn't control.

* * *

_To fear love is to fear life, and those who fear life are already three parts dead__ – Bertrand Russell, British intellectual._


	8. Haley Hotchner

**The Best Things in Life - Chapter 6  
**"**Haley Hotchner"**

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_Marriage is neither heaven nor hell; it is simply purgatory – Abraham Lincoln, American president._

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When Haley woke up, she felt like there was an electric current overrunning her body. She knew that it was the day she was about to become Haley Hotchner, the day she was going to seal her and Aaron's destinies. A grin took form on her face as the blond looked at the handsome man lying by her side. Should she wake him up? No, no, let Hotch sleeps as long as he wants, it's the day of their wedding and he needs to be flesh for Haley, her glorious party and their lively honeymoon in Atlantic City.

Haley went out of the bed and made her way to the kitchen bathed in the Saturday morning lights. Their two-storey, large white house was localized on a privileged area of Quantico from where they could open their windows and see trees and a very stereotyped neighborhood. Quantico had a population of 561 habitants*, so it was easy to say that everyone knew everyone, and everyone was aware that the BAU Chief, one of the most promising men to become the FBI Chief, would marry an angelical housewife. It was the climax of the American Dream: healthy children playing with lovely tame dogs under their happy parent's vigilant eyes. Those kids always made Haley thought about how her and Aaron's daughter or son would look like. She knew that, as Aaron had 45 years old, the possibility of him making her pregnant was low, but they had fiber to go to some doctor who could solve this eventual problem. What could be better than this?

The blond adjusted her pink nightgown and walked across the aisle. She went down the stairs, opened all the windows and wondered what breakfast she'd do for her soon-to-be-husband man. But, before taking the jelly out of the refrigerator, Haley went to the personal closet that Aaron had built for her to put all her favorite clothes. There was her wedding dress: a beautiful, white-and-gold, one-sleeved dress, matching perfectly with Haley's long hair. People had told her to make a bun, but Haley knew how much Aaron liked her hair untied. They had been preparing their party for months and now it was all going to happen…

-.-

Far away from Haley's and Aaron's house, there was a dove on the sidewalk of the Prince William Apartment House**, downtown. The animal was looking for something to eat when a fast car passed it by, scaring the dove and making it fly to the fifth floor of the Apartment House. The dove hit the closed window, causing a continuous noise until the bird realized that it wasn't going to open up and flew to another place, leaving Spencer, now awake, behind.

Being wakened up by a dove wasn't exactly the way Reid thought he was going to start this Saturday: one of the rare Saturdays they had no work to do; Erin dispensed them. The genius had to wink his eyes until they got used to the light and yawned, putting his fist at his month as the agent's other arm stretched. Then, when he tried to stand up, Spencer felt a pang at his belly – the pain caused by Hotch's kicks hadn't completely ceased yet. However, this acute pain didn't make him feel rancor for his boss, and yes relief at the memory of what could have happened if Aaron had not kicked him. He wouldn't be able to shoot Dowd and they would be possibly dead right now.

In the beginning – in the days that followed the LDSK case, whose report was made by Gideon, as Hotch and Reid were incapable to write and Erin wanted the report as soon as it was possible – Spencer tried to equilibrate his feelings of strangeness and glory. The way he shot Dowd was strange because he didn't know how to hold a gun and still he got it right; it was glorious because, as he got it right, it showed that Reid could defend himself (he just needed to learn how to do it in less scary situations). However, the shoot killed Philip, and, even if it was what Spencer tried to do, he never thought that taking someone else's life was so… Easy. Just a shoot and it was over. Diana had told him once that every single person in the world is like a library: all the moments and feelings this person went by where on those internal books. And, if you wanted to know someone well, you would have to read these books. Spencer felt like he had set fire on Dowd's library. And it was strange. But, at the same time, it was like Gideon had told him – Philip had already set fire on his dead victim's libraries and would kill more if Reid hadn't stopped him. And the thought that he had saved many other people's lives by killing an offset, a pariah, was glorious.

And saving Hotch's life for the second time was an incomparable glory. He would never be able to do something bad toward Spencer again; the little doctor had won their psychological war forever. Who cares if he had to kick him? What does that matter if Spencer let the fear control himself and didn't understand that kicking him wasn't what Hotch wished, but they needed to make this theater if they wanted to make things right? Now, they would be just respectful co-workers, more than normal representatives of the boss/subordinate relationship. Reid had submerged on the FBI's day-to-day completely, and wasn't going to go back to the surface for a very long time. When he came back home after that day, when he saw himself alone after being cared for by the nurses, when he realized that all his co-workers were on their homes certainly watching TV or cooking dinner, when he noticed that the world wasn't going to stop just because he had been held hostage and killed a man, Reid realized that being a hostage and killing criminals was a inseparable part of the FBI's agents day-to-day.

Spencer brushed his teeth on his bathroom that was in his aisle's bedroom and walked to the kitchen, hungry for a coffee. While he opened his refrigerator and thought that it was the life he had chosen for himself, he looked at the golden piece of paper preached on the appliance and, as a thunder falling on his head, he remembered that it was the day Hotch and his fiancée had chosen for their wedding day.

-.-

Jason, Derek, Elle, Jennifer and Penelope were longing for Aaron's wedding day. They had been living in familiar terms with the dark-haired man and knew how much he deserved to be happy, despite his stoic way to be. He wasn't a bad man, not at all. However, Hotch knew how good his co-workers were when it came to profiling. In the few meetings they and Haley had, Hotch could notice that they had already come to the conclusion that the blonde and the boss didn't truly love each other. They were together because it was what they were supposed to do – Haley needed a strong, kind-hearted promising man to make her happy and sustain her, and Hotch needed a lovely, calm young girl to give him support and join him in the perfect family portrait that every FBI Chief had. They hugged and kissed each other, they slept together; Haley said that she loved him and Hotch bought her expensive gifts, but it wasn't the pure love he was going to feel for Reid, for example.

Mrs. Hotchner had no ways to know that she wasn't going to be happy in her marriage, and Aaron didn't know that he wouldn't be supported by Haley.

-.-

Father Gregory was a fat, bald man who took care of the biggest church in Quantico. There was one of the fanciest wedding celebrations he had ever seen – all the church was decorated with white-and-pink flowers, and in the long aisle from where Haley would make her entrance there was a carpet decorated with crowns and other abstract figures. That Saturday evening couldn't help more – clouds of pure whiteness and an immaculate blue sky adorned the landscape.

Haley's mother had died when she was a child, but her father, sister and other relatives were there – her father with a nice suit and Jessica with a green dress. The blonde's friends looked like peacocks: with their colorful dresses, walked and talked a lot, wondering how beautiful Haley would look like in her amazing wedding dress and what music she and her good-looking future husband would dance in the reception. To tell the truth, there was only Haley's family and friends on the church – Hotch's BAU co-workers and Erin Strauss were the only guests for his part, excluding his brother Sean, as Hotch's parents were deceased.

The BAU team had planned to go to the church on Derek's car. The black man used a very elegant white shirt and a black social coat. He said goodbye to his dog Clooney and got happy to notice that his beautiful female neighbor didn't pull her eyes out of him while the agent entered on his car and drove to his friend's houses. He honked at Elle's house and the woman quickly appeared inside of a green dress. Morgan thought that the dress fit her perfectly, but he didn't want Greenaway to think that he was flirting with her, so he said nothing.

After the greetings, they drove to Gideon's apartment (Morgan was picking his co-workers based on the path to his house to the church) and found him on the sidewalk, social clothes. They could tell that, for an elderly, he was handsome. Jason had told them he was going to invite his "friend" Sarah to go on the wedding, but she had to help children in the hospital she worked at, so he was alone. Then, the agents went to JJ's place to get her and, even honking twice, the blonde didn't appear. So, Elle called her cell phone and Jason, who was finding the car too hot, disguised a sigh when Greenaway informed that JJ had lost one of her earrings and was practically destroying her house trying to find it.

They waited for 10 minutes and Jason asked Morgan to close all the car's windows and turn the air-conditioning on so he could breathe in peace. Finally, an ashamed JJ appeared dressing a light-blue dress and sapphire earrings. Elle played with her for her delay, but they all agreed that the earrings were beautiful. Jennifer and Jason squeezed themselves in the back seat and Elle was the first to realize that Reid and Garcia weren't going to fit on the back seat – if even a SUV couldn't shelter them all, what about Derek's car? They thought about picking Spencer – he was the thinnest agent, he would be able to sit by JJ's and Gideon's side without dying for lack of air – and going to the church, so Morgan would have to drive again to Garcia's place, get her and go back to the wedding ceremony.

It was a good plan – however, JJ pointed that Penny could get offended – they all knew and the teach-girl knew how fat she was, but insinuating that she would have to make a solitary travel to the church because she wouldn't fit…

"It would be better if you take us to the church, then you drive to Reid's and Garcia's house and pick them, they'll fit" opined Elle to Derek, and they all agreed. Morgan wouldn't mind to do two travels – he had air-conditioning and was going to be with his friends anyway.

So, the elder, the blonde and the dark-haired woman got out of the car and entered on the church, admiring each part of the decoration. Haley's peacock friends and relatives didn't know them, so the agents were followed by whispers of curiosity as they walked to their seat. JJ got a little irritated by the insinuations that they were crashers, but Jessica, who had already seen her sister's fiancée's team in a photo, recognized them and, as she made her way to those people that seemed to be watching everything, Jessica noticed that she was dressing exactly the same green dress as one of the women on the seat.

-.-

Only when Reid finished combing his hair he sat on his couch and breathed in peace. Since the day in which Hotch had given him the wedding invitation, Reid had one week – Haley let her friends know about the day of the wedding one month before the day, but Aaron gave them the invitations three days after the LDSK case – to think about what kind of clothe he was going to wear, what gift he was going to buy, et cetera.

He had already bought the gift – a very expansive set of decorative pots, silver spoons and forks, and Hotch had already received it – but there was no decent suit for him to wear. Reid had arrived to Quantico and to Prince William Apartment House (and its furnished apartments) to complete his FBI's graduation with four bags full of books, one with his clothes and a small bag with hygiene products. The thought of going to Hotch's wedding with a plaid blouse and dark jeans made him sigh of irritation.

Luckily, it was a Saturday morning. He didn't have to go to the office and all the stores would be open until lunch time. So, Spencer took off his yellow pajamas and went to shower. Then, after putting blue jeans, a white shirt and a light-brown coat, the agent kept a part of his economies at his wallet, grabbed his Quantico's sightseeing tour and began to walk by the empty streets, looking for stores. Without stopping to think that he couldn't spend all his first salary and his economies, he entered on a clothing store and asked for a suit.

The attendant looked at him from top to bottom, and Spencer realized that it wouldn't be easy to find a suit for a tall and thin man like him. However, the attendant was a dedicated and nice lady who helped Reid and in less than one hour he was dressing a fancy dark suit, tieless. Knowing that he wouldn't be able to find another suit in time, he paid the piece of clothe and went back home.

In his apartment, Reid remembered that he had marked with Morgan to be picked up by him. The wedding would be realized two hours after lunch, so Reid had plenty of time to prepare himself. The gift had already been delivered (since the genius came to the BAU, he had never spent so much money than he had spent with the pots and the suit, but the suit was a good investment). He took another shower, sprayed perfume, made his lunch – Spencer cooked very well -, combed his hair, sat on the couch and waited for Derek to come.

For some reason, the thought of Hotch getting married made him wonder about his mother. He missed Diana, her crazy, yet full of love, way to be, but he couldn't just use his first salary to fly to Las Vegas – he needed to save money first. While it didn't happen, he could just write huge letters. Having eidetic memory is very nice when you want to be able to remember every phrase you heard, every face you saw, everything you felt. However, somehow Reid managed to delete every memory he had about his father – his phrases, his face and what he had made the doctor feel mean nothing to him.

The genius heard the intercom informing that there was someone waiting for him. Then, he used the elevator and met Morgan on the lobby of the Apartment House. While they were going to the church, Spencer truly wished Hotch's marriage to be better than Diana's one.

-.-

Hotch heard someone knocking on his bedroom's door.

"Come in" he said, adjusting his tie. He saw, through the mirror he was looking at, his younger brother Sean appearing in his bedroom. Hotch realized that his brother dyed his hair and now it was yellow and a little bit dingy. But it didn't matter – they hugged each other and Sean congratulated him for the wedding.

Hotch had awakened one hour after Haley and they had breakfast in silence, just enjoying each other's presence, the man remembering the day they met – he had walked mistakenly in the school's theater and saw her staging a scene. Her sweet smile and the way she proclaimed the phrases made him feel instantly attracted. Time passed them by – Hotch conquered girlfriends, lost his virginity in a high school party one year after his father's death, made the Law School, and his friendship with the blond remained intact. Then, the thought that it was impossible for them to be friends for so long without being soul mates at the same time fell – Aaron and Haley dated for almost six years before becoming fiancées.

Hotchner was preparing himself for his wedding – he wanted no hairdressers or helpers as Haley ("if I'm not able to make my hair and my clothes by myself, how can I lead the FBI one day?" he told her, and she screeched in pleasure before kissing him) and Sean got surprised to notice that he wasn't nervous, on the contrary, he seemed relaxed, asking if Sean was studying hard to go to Yale make the Law School. The younger man didn't want to inform that he had been planning to become a chief, so he just answered in a monosyllabic way and told him the news about the church.

"Jessica called me to ask where I was and she told me that Haley's friends are all there with your team as well".

"Are they already there?" Hotch asked, taking the final look in the mirror, happy to know that his only guests had come. Then, he moved his thoughts to the bride. "What about Haley?"

"I didn't see her. Jessica told me that she is leaving the SPA and going to the church. Speaking of it, it's time for you to go, right?" Sean asked, smiling.

Hotch grinned and they drove to the church. He greeted everyone – hugged Haley's family and friends, kissed Father Gregory's right hand and received a blessing back, and went to talk to his co-workers. They all congratulated him and wished the best. Hotch couldn't help but laugh when he noticed how ashamed Elle was because of her dress being identical to Jessica's, and Gideon had tears on his eyes that he tried to hide.

Jason wanted so much Stephen and Sarah to be there with him, watching Hotch getting married was like watching a son getting married… But they weren't there. Stephen was alone somewhere in Maine and Sarah was probably doing a surgery on some sick child. However, when Gideon saw the delicate and ashamed way Hotch hugged Reid, he felt his heart warm. His two dearest friends and co-workers were there, happy and healthy… What could be better than this?

-.-

Haley's father was stood in front of the church, waiting for his daughter as Father Gregory took position with Aaron – and Hotch's best man, Sean - and they all saw when Haley's car parked. Then, Hotch made a signal and the band they had hired put _The Blue Danube _to play – one of Haley's favorite songs. Her father, excited, gave her his arm and they slowly walked on the long carpet. The blonde was almost crying of happiness and tried to hide her grin.

Then, inexplicably, Hotch understood what they were doing and began to sweat. He was getting married, but wasn't he too old to do it? He was making an alliance with Haley – ensuring that he was going to sustain, protect her, to make her happy, but what if he couldn't do it? What if Haley gets tired of him, then looks at him and tells Hotch that he is a farce, that she trusted him and he disappointed her? He looked at his bride: she seemed to be so sure of what she was doing, and the man tried to draw an image of confidence too.

Then, even more inexplicably, Hotch felt an urgent need to receive approval – he needed someone to say that what he was about to do wasn't dangerous and that he probably wouldn't regret it. He put his eyes on Gideon, who was helplessly smiling to him; a calm, wise expression, like Jason knew that Hotch would get marry a long time ago – no surprises. The boss couldn't say if the oldest agent noticed how nervous he was becoming or not, so he took a deep breathe and wiped the hairline of sweat above his contracted month. He was so peaceful when Sean appeared inside his bedroom, he was so quiet while adjusting his hair, why the hell he was getting so worried while Haley got closer and closer to him, the _Blue Danube _ending?

He tried to smile when Haley held his arm – he could imagine how fake it looked, but the blonde was so happy that she didn't notice. Then, when Hotch turned to Father Gregory, who was cleaning his throat in order to start the ceremony, and his dark eyes met Reid's honey-colored ones. Reid was as relaxed as Jason, thinking that, if Haley and Hotch really loved each other, it was nice they would be together, but, when he looked at his boss, he realized that something was wrong – the disdain and confidence so characteristic of him weren't there – Reid had never seen Hotch like this, not even when they were with Dowd. Aaron and Haley knelt and the ceremony began.

-.-

A ballroom decorated with similar colors as the church, the playlist Haley had made with several music, some of them Aaron didn't even know, people cheering and playing.

It had been a nice reception, nobody could deny – Garcia wanted to get Reid to dance with her, but the skinny doctor wouldn't make a good couple with the tech-girl, who was wearing a red dress that made her look like a gypsy queen, so Morgan took her hand to help Spencer, and they flew by the ballroom beautifully. Hotch tried his best to hide his sudden insecurity from Haley, but his wife was so happy that didn't even notice that Aaron was quieter than the usual. However, Jason, who was in fact thinking about his son Stephen when Hotch looked at him, noticed it and went to ask Reid.

"What's wrong with Hotch? He doesn't look very happy…"

Reid really didn't want to talk about the way he looked at him, so he just answered that he certainly was suffering from a natural anxiety.

Jason wasn't satisfied with the answer, but preferred to think about other things. He looked at Spencer and noticed how delicately handsome he was – the way he crossed his legs, his elegant fingers holding a glass of wine, his hair tips falling behind his ears, his fine nose framing his face. Gideon lingered his eyes on Reid, what made the genius smile at him. Steps behind, Haley was putting her tongue on Hotch's month, making her father blush and her friends let annoying screams of pleasure and voyeurism out. Filling the air, The Cure's _Lovesong_.

"What are you so looking at me?" asked Reid, drinking a little bit more of wine. Jason had met Reid in the FBI Academy, but the attraction between them was almost instant. They behaved like they were, if not father and son, uncle and nephew.

Gideon widened his smile.

"Why aren't you dancing?"

"Garcia was the only one who asked me" Reid answered, amused. Jason understood perfectly and laughed at it. Then, he noticed that JJ was alone, sat in the same table as them, looking at Elle – the female profiler was trying to catch some snacks without meeting Jessica, after all they were still very ashamed because of their identical dress. So, Gideon had an idea.

"Hey, JJ, would you like to dance with Reid? He's alone" he exclaimed, and Jennifer looked at them. Then, she smiled wickedly and went to them, while Reid tried to not look ashamed – he had never danced with a girl as beautiful as JJ. But then, he remembered himself that JJ wouldn't try to seduce him, they would dance as friends, for Gideon's entertainment, actually. This thought helped him to calm down and he had lots of fun dancing with JJ. His scariest fear was unfounded – it was Jennifer who stepped on his foot, not the contrary.

However, Reid wasn't capable to forget Hotch's eyes. He looked at his boss, dancing with Haley – he seemed so rocky, so uncomfortable, but, at the same time, no one seemed to notice it, not even Gideon. Didn't he want to marry her? Wasn't he happy? In his mind, Hotch wasn't the type of person who does things without wanting to – would he really marry someone even not wanting it?

"Well, I don't know anything about them" Reid tried to conform himself – two months had passed since the day he entered on Hotch's office thinking that the other already knew who he was. In those two months, they had threw disdain and anger looks at each other, had been held hostages one time and Reid had saved his life twice – he had even spent part of his salary on Hotch's wedding gift and he could still admit that they knew none about each other. Wasn't it a paradox? It was, but that's how life worked, especially when you're a newbie in the Behavioral Analysis Unit.

When the first piano sounds of Tori Amos' _Father Lucifer _entered on Hotch's ear, he suddenly realized how tired he was of dancing senseless romantic songs*** with Haley and asked her if they could have a seat. She smiled and guided them to the table where her family was – Hotch wanted to be with his team, actually, but he wasn't in the mood to tell it to his wife – and Hotch sat in a chair from where he had a full vision of Reid drinking his wine. The youngest agent had already finished dancing with JJ and was now talking with Morgan and Elle.

After the LDSK case, he realized that Reid wasn't the finicky, effeminate teenager Aaron thought he was. On the contrary, he had been very brave and demonstrated how much respect he deserved. His scariest fears were unfounded – Reid wasn't going to mess with his team, Jason wasn't going to hire and fire everyone he wanted to… In short, nothing bad had happened with the team's dynamic after Reid's arrival. If their psychological war had come to an end, Spencer was the dignified winner, and Hotch accepted it. Now, living in peace would be easier. He took a look at Reid – he seemed naturally happy, as Haley was more like a euphoric woman.

However, he didn't want to start thinking about his situation – he liked Haley, knew how to treat her right and they'd be the personification of the Ideal American Couple: healthy, happy, and successful. At least, it was what he thought they would be, what he thought they should be.

The party ran until seven o'clock – Hotch's anxiety was decreasing and Reid stopped drinking wine, instead of Penny, who tried to dance again with Derek as he put her on his car to carry the tech-girl to her house. In the end of the party, when Morgan came back after delivering his best friend, Elle, JJ and Gideon entered on the car and Hotch appeared there to say goodbye and thank them.

Reid and Hotch looked at each other and, while Hotch thanked him for coming, Spencer suddenly felt like he needed to so something for him – if Aaron was happy or not, if he really loved Haley or not, it wasn't his business, but his boss wasn't that heartless, couldn't be…

Reid approached him and hugged Hotch, a warmer hug than the one they shared in the beginning of the ceremony. Aaron, invaded by the sensation of having a co-worker hugging him for free will, took a deep breathe and thanked him again, this time not for the pots. Elle, who was waiting for Reid to enter in the car, saw the scene and wondered if Reid's presence would make Hotch more human. Haley, who was searching for her husband everywhere, found him in the slim arms of that new agent and couldn't help but notice that he had never showed some kind of friendship toward that kid. She knew he was the one who stayed with him in the LDSK case – Haley got afraid when she heard what her fiancée had supported, but seeing him alive and knowing that it would be another victory compensated – but she knew nothing about him.

She knew nothing about the man with whom her husband had just broke the hug and now they seemed a little bit ashamed of the physical contact, but Hotch realized it had been a hug of understanding. Reid had seen his full-of-despair look and was trying to say that everything would be alright, and now Hotch agreed with him.

Spencer entered in the car, trying to not think about what he had done – he wasn't the type to go hugging everyone, so why… Well, it wasn't a good time to think about it. The wine made him do it. They did nothing wrong, it had been just a physical contact of congratulating, even if the look of despair in Aaron's eyes didn't let Spencer sleep in peace that night.

Hotch walked to Haley, feeling lighter, and it was her turn to hug him. He kissed her cheek and asked her if she was ready to spend the best trip of her life in their honeymoon. She laughed and they came back to the ballroom to say goodbye to Haley's friends and relatives. They would take the plane to Atlantic City on that same day. Aaron was accepting the huge step he was making, but the unexpected look of understanding that Reid shot at him didn't leave Hotch's mind that night.

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_Marriage is a good deal like a circus: there is not as much in it as is represented in the advertising – E. W. Howe, American writer._

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_* According to the 2000 Census.  
** I don't know if there such an Apartment House called Prince William (Prince William is the name of Quantico's county). In fact I invented it…  
*** I don't think that The Cure's _Lovesong _and that Tori Amos' _Father Lucifer _are senseless music; it's my Hotch's opinion!

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People, thanks for the nice comments, it's a great encouragement!


	9. Diana Reid

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**The Best Things in Life – Chapter 7  
**"**Diana Reid"**

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_There is a fine line between genius and madness. I deleted my line – Oscar Levant, American pianist._

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Hotch was used to travel by airplane, so Haley's excited way to look up to the clouds among them and to the stewardesses with their diabetic food kind of embarrassed him. It wasn't the first time she traveled by airplane, but Aaron could profile that she was extremely happy and wanted to demonstrate it by other ways than just by kissing him in the middle of the Atlantic City's streets. Anyway, her happiness was infectious.

The couple was coming back home after one week of honeymoon in the "Las Vegas of the East". Hotch got fascinated with the Atlantic City Hilton, the casino-hotel in which they stayed, and badly wanted to go the beach. Haley, however, found no funny in betting money and wished to take care of her tan the maximum possible time. In order to avoid unnecessary fights, they went to the beach in the afternoon, stayed in the casinos by the night and used the morning to roll under the sheets, usually naked, talking about their future life and often making love before the breakfast.

Hotch's anxiety had disappeared, so that when he watched her swimming, adjusting her shoes to prepare them for another walk on the city or smiling of pleasure under him, he couldn't avoid thinking that his despair was unfounded and that they'd be really happy together. Actually, he became a little bit ashamed of the silent way Reid helped him – he had never demonstrate this kind of weakness in front of any co-worker… However, Hotch tried to forget his wedding day as the week passed them by: he would have to go back to work soon and wanted to have a good time.

And he had. His honeymoon was his first vacation since Gideon's breakdown and Hotch's arrival at the head of the BAU, and he felt like he could finally be himself – he laughed when he wanted to, he slept as much as he needed to, he walked holding hands with Haley without the fear of being seen by a co-worker. The dark-haired man appreciated the people walking on the streets, the colors of the casinos, and the smell of the sea. But he knew it'd all come to an end, and the good memories would remain. So, they made their bags and entered in the airplane, rejuvenated. The subject "having a child" hadn't appeared yet.

Haley sat across from him and asked for coffee. Suddenly, watching the blonde consuming the drink made him think about Reid, and the boss caught himself wondering about how the genius had passed that week without supervision. But these thoughts didn't survive to Haley, her brown eyes and her smile. Then, after hours of flying, they finally arrived to Richmond, knowing that reality was back, but they'd do their best to keep the love in the air.

-.-

When Haley heard the sound of the alarm clock, she instinctively put her arm over Hotch's chest, like she wanted him to stay sleeping with her. But, in his first day of work after their honeymoon, Aaron's presence was indispensable and, actually, he wanted to work. Hotch made the Law School and became federal prosecutor, but spending his entire life doing paperwork and dealing with criminals after they committed their murders wasn't what he wanted. So, he applied for a job at the FBI and completed the course. Ending up in the BAU was the best thing that happened at his career so far and the path to leadership was short.

"Mmm… Haley, sweetheart, I have to go…" he grumbled as she stretched. She knew that he couldn't just go back to sleep with her, so Haley smiled at him and wished a good morning.

"I know… I know your team is waiting for you" she said, and he liked the way the blonde pointed how much he was needed, wanted for his co-workers. Knowing that people need you was nice for someone like Aaron. Haley began to get out of their king-size bed and its messy sheets, informing that she was going to make breakfast for him, but the agent cut Haley off by saying that he was going to do it, she didn't need to worry. In the deep of her heart Haley sighed in relief – she wouldn't like to get out of bed this early – and lay again, watching her man walking along the aisle.

Hotch ate bread with jelly and coffee before going back to his room, taking a shower and putting his usual suit. Haley had already seen that her husband's co-workers wore regular clothes, but she didn't want Hotch to be like them – she really liked his serious way to behave while working. Being the boss, it is expected of him to wear a suit everyday. That day, the last vision Hotch had that involved his wife – because there would be a new case for the BAU to solve - was the book he bought for her (_The Unforgettable Smell of the Roses_, by some Irish writer*)being grabbed from their bedside table to her lap. After brushing their teeth, they shared a kiss and he went to the BAU happy to think that she'd be safe at their home, probably reading, talking with Jessica on the telephone and watching TV.

Entering on the FBI's Office was enough for Hotch to realize how much he had missed his workplace. In the corridor, he found Erin and she congratulated him for the wedding before apologizing – an urgent appointment appeared and she wasn't able to attend neither in the wedding nor the reception. Hotch smiled diplomatically and ensured that there was no problems. He knew better – Strauss didn't like him because she wanted as much as Hotchner to be the FBI Chief, but going ahead of him was impossible.

However, Erin's face disappeared in his mind when he entered at his department's floor and saw his co-workers writing papers, typing on their computers and analyzing past crimes. He noticed that Elle had smoothed her hair and wore a black shirt with neckline; Morgan wore a salmon-colored shirt and a tie and Reid was there too, with a striped blue blouse. Hotch watched him. Now he knew that Spencer wasn't a threat and that he'd be very helpful – actually, Reid was a good man, dedicated and brave. So, why did he keep wearing those clothes that made him look like a…

"…Girlish teenager, just what I thought he was and now I know he's not" Hotch thought. Judging people by their surface, by the clothes they wear and the way they behaved was very easy. No one who saw Reid with his skinny body inside those nerd-type clothes, his always scared eyes and that short, boyish hair would know that there was a man ready to make profiles, work in field, shoot criminals and save lives. But, if that was the way Reid wanted to dress and behave, it was his option.

Elle heard Hotch's steps – the office was quiet that morning – and was the first to look at him. They smiled for each other.

"See who's come!" she exclaimed, and they all looked at him. Hotch didn't want to demonstrate how happy he was with his co-workers affection, so he just greeted them and went up the stairs, ready to see if someone had messed with his office while he was out, ready to go back to the murders and criminals.

Reid watched him as his boss closed the door and disappeared behind the blinds. He was tanner than before and it made him even more imposing. However, Spencer could see happiness in his eyes – in the genius' perception, Hotch wasn't as intimidating as he seemed to be before their problem with those damn shooting lessons and the LDSK case. Things were getting better, Reid could feel it. Hotch could even keep his cold way to be, but it wouldn't mean he was going to humiliate or fire anyone.

"A barking dog seldom bites" he thought, amused not only because of Aaron's return, but also because…

"Hey, Reid, isn't today your birthday?"

Elle, Morgan and Reid heard Gideon's voice while he went down the stairs. He had taken a look at his calendar and saw that it was Reid's 24th birthday. Jason and Hotchner were the only ones whom Spencer gave his birthday (Hotch because it was on his file and Gideon because he asked to for curiosity), and the young agent was truly expecting no one to remember it. To complete, he was shy – he wouldn't enter in the office and scream: "Congratulate me! It's my birthday!"

Gideon wanted them to think that he had remembered Reid's birthday that day, but the truth was that he had already bought a very special gift for his student. However, he didn't want to put Reid to blush, so he waited the first necessity to go down to casually wish Reid's a good birthday. And the necessity to go to the toilet after drinking two cups of hot coffee appeared at the right time.

Elle and Morgan looked at Reid while the genius thanked Jason for remembering. Then, when the oldest agent disappeared behind the closed toilet door, the woman and the black man quickly stood up and walked to their co-worker's desk. Spencer saw them approaching him in slow motion, so big was his desire to escape from the world.

"How come you didn't tell us you're making years, kid?" asked Morgan, smiling, and Reid was trying to find something polite to say when Elle asked how old he was now.

"Twenty-four" he said, and she smiled. He really seemed to fit his age. Then, JJ, dressing a brown dress and an elegant bun – Reid got surprised with the difference between the "everyday JJ" and the Jennifer he danced with at Hotch's reception – came from somewhere behind them and congratulated Reid for his birthday.

"Thanks, JJ" he said, calmer. He felt more comfortable with JJ and Jason than with Elle and Morgan. The middle-aged man and the dark-haired woman had something that reminded Reid of the children that bullied him when he was at school. If they all were in some school, Greenaway and Derek would be the bullies, he'd be the nerd he always was, JJ would be the older student who is always helping, Gideon would be his favorite teacher and Hotch'd be the severe principal.

Then, Jason went out of the toilet and reminded them that there was lots of work to do, so they ought to go back to their desks. Spencer sighed in relief and continued answering a letter from the Montana Police Department.

While Aaron was taking care of his tan in Atlantic City, the rest of the BAU team faced an extremely monotonous week. JJ chose a few cases for them to solve, but she had to wait until Hotch was back – the profilers couldn't travel and arrest criminals without their supervisor, so they analyzed past crimes and answered police letters all the time (not all the time – on Tuesday Morgan and Elle began a discrete paper ball's war and Reid tried to stop them but he ended up throwing some of the papers at Morgan just before Jason came to see what were those strange noises).

Reid didn't give a damn – after shooting two men, being held hostage and killing a criminal, being Morgan's paper ball's target was almost ordinary. And he knew it was supposed to be like that: even with his co-workers congratulating him for being so cold-blood with the LDSK, Spencer didn't tell anyone how scared he was when he understood that Dowd had not only punched him but was about to kill him, leaning the weapon at his head. He had never been so close to death, and, after being pushed to Hotch, kicked by him and shooting Philip, everything got hasty – he being cared for the nurses, the mirror they gave him so he could see that nothing happened to his face, Hotch apologizing, he and his boss talking to their team on the airplane, Gideon's advices, sending him home, alone, assuming that he'd deal well with the situation. After shooting Dowd, he got numb.

Only in the following morning he realized the gravity of the situation he was supposed to deal well with. It could easily be a horror movie script – being held hostage, knowing that, if you do something wrong, you'd be killed ("Answer him! But be aware that, if you say something wrong, he kills you")… Did Hotch have a plan? Didn't he have a plan? The answer for this question was the key for him to live or die, and he couldn't understand Hotch's dangerous provocations (what if Dowd had gotten bored with Aaron's talk and shot Reid, didn't Hotch think about it?) until he got a beating. A humiliating beating, but it was the only way he could… Save them both.

Going to talk with Aaron and telling him that he almost killed Spencer of worry wouldn't do any good. He was a FBI agent now, was he expecting the criminals to be harmless and Hotch to whisper on his ear, "don't be scared, I'm going to beat you up but it's just a plan, everything's gonna be alright"? Of course not! Things happened in an unexpected way and Reid couldn't do anything but blame himself for not understanding. However, the thought that he could die in less than one minute and his mother would be forever alone (what would the doctors tell her when Diana's son stops writing letters? How can they say he's dead without making Diana mad, madder than she already was?) was overwhelming, and Reid couldn't think of it without having a heart sank.

It had been shocking, but Aaron's wedding day, the tight embrace they shared, Reid's calm week in the Office, Jason's proud eyes and his boss' return seemed to tell him that everything had ended up right and that's how it was going to work, going forward. And there were the letters. Diana had already sent Spencer a letter wishing a happy birthday for him accompanied by an unfavorable review of a book she had read ("don't consume your time with _The Unforgettable Smell of the Roses_, it's trash!") and the information that an old friend of Spencer's, a jazz musician named Ethan, was trying to make contact with him. He wished him a happy birthday as well. Reid's heart warmed.

-.-

The FBI people could choose between seeking food elsewhere and eating at the FBI's refectory**. Reid could cross the street and buy something in the big bakery that was laid in front of the building, but he liked to see all the others departments' people talking and eating – it could be a good studying of the human behavior. Also, it was nice to talk with his co-workers while they ate. However, Jason and Hotch never ate with them – the boss because he had lots of work to do and preferred to eat something in his office, and the oldest profiler because he said his ears were too old for the refectory's noises. The FBI food was nice, and the people who ate elsewhere didn't know what they were losing.

However, it was Reid's birthday, and his co-workers had other plans for the lunch time. So, minutes before the buzzer, JJ and Jason, who were seen suspicious talking to each other during business hours, went to the bakery and returned with a chocolate cake, candles and what seemed to be a hat in form of cake. Elle and Morgan shared looks and understood that Reid was going to have his first birthday celebrated in office, and it would be amazing. When the genius saw that it was for him, he didn't get as ashamed as he thought he'd be.

-.-

Denver, Colorado - one man found dead with a strange MO. Miami, Florida – two children got raped and their bodies were buried on the sand of the beach. San Diego, California – people are getting killed with their eyes wide open and someone who calls himself "Death" leaves messages on their houses about greed and luxury.

Hotch made his choice. He felt extremely sorry for the man and the children, but the San Diego's murders were the type of strange crimes they were used to solve. Only when Hotch put the papers away he realized how hungry he was… The bread with jelly and coffee wouldn't be enough for him to spend his evening. He remembered that it was his first day of work after his honeymoon and wanted to call Haley just to know what she was doing, where she was, if the book he bought for her was good. He was about to grab his cell phone when the sounds of "Happy Birthday to You!" filled the air and Hotch, curious, spied through the blinds.

What he saw would make him want to laugh his head off if he wasn't so cold at work – Elle, Morgan and JJ surrounded a Spencer dressing not only the blue blouse but an (at least) eccentric hat in form of cake, and there was a real cake in front of him – and it seemed to be delicious. Spencer was enjoying himself, it was obvious. Hotch smiled when he noticed that Jason was looking at them, distant.

Aaron went down the stairs and stood by his ex-mentor's side. Morgan was inciting Reid to blow out the candles, but they were a special type of candle that didn't blow out easy, so the genius tried to made the fire disappear for some time before JJ told him the truth about the candles. Reid looked at Morgan pretending angriness, but the black man knew better and, laughing more, played with Reid's hat under Elle's calm eyes. The woman felt happy for Spencer – he was a kind-hearted kid and she wished him the best.

"And mommy comes to rescue!" played Derek when JJ squeezed Reid's shoulder after the young thanked her. The blonde laughed and began to cut the cake.

"Mommy?" Reid asked back, but he understood and now wanted to eat some of his cake. It had been a really nice surprise, Spencer had never celebrated his birthday with anyone except his mother, and he didn't even know if he should thank them again or if it would make him look like a poor child who never had a diversion in life. His instincts told him to stay calm and have a good time with the so-called "cooperation between co-workers", and he did it.

Something inside Hotch was telling him to go and celebrate with them, but he couldn't, he wasn't that intimate from Reid and he certainly wasn't as playful as Morgan or JJ. Well, he could get some of Spencer's cake after their celebration, but it would be wrong – not participating of the party and stealing its food wasn't the kind of thing Haley or Gideon would like to see him doing. The boss looked at the Nevada native – there was something special about this boy. He had everything to be arrogant – his intelligence, his youth… But he wasn't. Reid seemed to be the helper one: he had always something nice and interesting to say about their cases – a statistic, the historical background of some monument, the chemical or physical explication for some aspect of the crime… He'd be extremely helpful.

"Isn't it amazing he knows what he knows, and he's only 24?" Hotch asked to Gideon, and the oldest profiler talked back:

"Imagine what he'll know by 50…"

Aaron didn't look at Jason, but felt satisfied with the answer. Then, he heard someone calling his name – there was a man, some of the FBI's lawyers, on the phone and calling Hotch. Saying nothing, Aaron walked to him and was informed that the delegate of San Diego's Police Department wanted to talk with him. The boss got the phone and talked politely with the delegate – the man was desperate because he had delivered the document with the Tommy Killer case (the one who killed his victims putting their eyes wide open) – one week ago and the media liaison said that she had to speak with her boss to see if they would take the case.

Reid was about to take some cake when he realized that Aaron had gotten away from Jason, so he went to talk with his mentor. The oldest agent looked at him with a smile on his month.

"Are you having a good time?"

"I am, but… Can I take this hat off?" Reid asked, funny and at the same time ashamed for what Jason could think of him dressing this ridiculous hat in the middle of the business hours. Gideon noticed that Reid still had reservations towards him, and it was not what he wanted – he'd like Spencer to feel free while talking to him. And plus – Gideon never celebrated his own birthday with a small party like that – why people were so ashamed of having fun together?

"I wouldn't" he answered, and Spencer smiled at him, feeling relaxed. Then, JJ turned to them and called Reid for his piece of cake.

"First piece of cake for the birthday-boy, Spence!"

Jason liked the motherly way JJ behaved with Reid, and the genius seemed to like it, too. However, Gideon appreciated thinking that their friendship could become something more, and the gift he bought for the kid's birthday would help them. Before going to her, he said:

"JJ's the only one in the world who calls me 'Spence'" and Gideon laughed at it. His gift would fit them perfectly.

"Enjoy yourself" he ordered, but Reid was already gone. Then, the oldest profiler saw Hotch hanging off the phone. The boss looked at them, seeming worried.

"Fun is over, people, we have a case" he said, and everyone looked at him. Reid, Elle, Morgan and Jennifer thought exactly the same – they could have so many cases as Hotch wanted, but they wouldn't go before finishing the cake.

-.-

Diana Reid put the book on her lap and closed her eyes – she sometimes did it after reading too much, it was good to put the eyes to rest. However, the lines of Proust's _Swann's Way_ she had just read flew on her prodigy mind***:

_Even in the most insignificant details of our daily life, none of us can be said __to constitute a material whole, which is identical for everyone, and need only be turned up like a page in an account-book or the record of a will; our social personality is created by the thoughts of other people._

The woman sighed and felt the gentle wind on her short blonde hair. She had already heard some people saying that reading is awful, that wasting time reading about things that never actually happened was for the ones who didn't know how to live by themselves. Diana, who was a university professor of literature, couldn't agree. Reading is magic.

She opened her eyes and looked at the beautiful field she was in. Nurses walked by their patient's sides, doctors talked with each others, birds played on the trees. Diana knew that people thought she was crazy, and it hurt her. In her opinion, she was just a very intelligent woman who saw things as they really were – the government is a gang of fascists who are always ready to spy people and put poison on the country's water tank (and that's the reason she got so nervous when Spencer informed that he was going to work on the FBI), the souls of famous and dead people like Elvis and Bob Marley would be always protecting their fans, and there was a ghost inside everyone of us, ghost that wanted us to do bad things – that's why people killed each other.

However, she knew that her fate was sealed – Spencer had put her on the sanatorium, and she would spend all her life there. It wasn't a bad place: Diana received affection from the nurses and the doctors, ate good food, could read as much as she wanted, had a room for herself and received Spencer's letters. Talking with him through words made Diana very happy, and she should admit that, sometimes, she got scared. For example, there was a day in which she was drinking coffee and, suddenly, a man's face appeared on the smoke of the coffee – it was perfect, she could see his teeth, his nose, and his bloodshot eyes. Then, the man in the coffee's smoke began to talk to her, saying things she didn't understand, and she throw the drink away with a scream. The ghost, the ghost she knew everyone had was taking form to haunt her.

The doctors saw Diana running across the sanatorium, exclaiming that her ghost was alive, and suddenly a fear so big took over her, it was like she was going to lose all her peace of mind, like the end of the world had come, and she closed her eyes to don't see anything anymore. She didn't like the way the nurses held her arm to make her stop, and the professor felt an injection on her arm. Then, she felt the world going nebulous and slept. When she woke up, she was laid on her bedroom with a doctor by her side, calming her down. He told her that, whatever scary thing she saw, it didn't exist, and nothing bad would happen to her. Then, the fear disappeared as fast as it came.

Spencer's mother recognized that the doctors had this magical injection that helped her to calm down. However, she knew nothing about her hallucinations and thought about them as "strange things that occasionally happened". Having that injection was nice, and her life was as calm as she could ask for. The only thing she hated about the sanatorium was that those injections and medications made her forget about her past life, when Reid was a little kid. Sometimes she felt like it was some kind of government plan to make her delete her memories and become a robot, but the nurses and doctors were too tender to be spies.

Diana opened _Swann's Way _again and would continue with her reading when a black nurse approached her and gave the professor a letter, saying that it was her son's. Diana thanked and, excited, began to read. She didn't know, but Reid wrote this letter omitting lots of things, and it was written after the LDSK case:

_Dear mom,_

_Thanks for sending me your wishes for my birthday, even if it's going to be only next week. I don't care if you're not giving me any gifts, I'm so busy working that I'm afraid I wouldn't have time to read the book you would send.  
__I know that you don't like the FBI, but working here has been amazing. We have our own desks, but, when we have a case, we go to a special room to analyze the crime before going to the airplane. There is a roundtable like King Arthur's one, you know? But the airplane is even nicer. The FBI always makes us stay in Five Stars Hotels, so you can imagine how much fun I'm having!  
__However, the cases we handle with take away all our fun. You don't have to know, but, as an example, last week we arrested a man who shot his victims just to try to save them later. My boss and I were held hostages, but you don't need to worry – everything ended up well. My boss married days after this case, and now he's at his honeymoon. I hope this honeymoon makes him be more likeable than he is…  
__And what about you? What are doing these days? I miss you very much, but I can't visit you now, I need to save money first. The FBI's salary is enough for me, but I can't waste too much of it. The first thing I'm going to buy is a computer, as I forgot my old one in Las Vegas. If you are going to write back to Ethan, please tell him I appreciate his wishes and, please, don't give him my new address. You know I haven't talked with him for a long time.  
__If you need anything, just call me._

_Hope to see you again soon,  
__Yours,  
__Spencer_

Diana let the love she felt for her son go out in the form of a sigh of relief and, at the same time, worry. So, Spencer had been held hostage by a freak that shot people? Very nice for a first year of job! Why did Spencer change the subject for his boss' wedding? She gave a damn about his boss; Diana wanted to know about her , there was nothing on the letter.

"Everything ended up well" Diana thought: "It is what matters". Oh, she hated seeing her son among so many horrible crimes and terrible situations! If he could be her baby forever… But it wasn't possible. He was a man, a grown man who could make his own choices. She folded the letter affectionately and, holding Proust under her left arm, began to walk to her bedroom, where she'd put this short letter with the others she received.

-.-

Four days in San Diego in a harmless case. The Tommy Killer happened to be a phone technician who wanted the women he killed to look at the telephone poles where he worked. However, it had been not only a harmless case, but a complicated one. A new potential victim was attacked by a different criminal, and things almost got out of control.

Spencer was satisfied. They had solved the case – and Garcia gave him wishes of happy birthday as soon as Morgan told her about the small party they organized, but only after asking why she hadn't been invited to eat the cake -, Hotch got happy and even laughed at a joke Greenaway told on the airplane, when they were going back home. Reid liked to see his boss relaxed, it made him feel that everything was alright.

Moments later, everyone was sleeping less JJ – who was reading a book on the other side of the airplane - Gideon and Reid, who were playing chess. Jason wore a wine-colored piece of clothe and Reid was dressing a brown plaid blouse. Then, when Gideon noticed that his student was about to make a checkmate, he made a signal in the air: "stop". Reid said nothing and just watched Gideon taking something very small out of his pockets. It was a box inside a blue package with a red ribbon. Spencer's eyes were a perfect question mark and Jason smiled and gave it to him.

"It's my gift, happy birthday" he said, and his smile got bigger when he noticed how happy Reid got with it. The genius smiled and opened the box.

"Wow, what is it…" he murmured, taking the blue paper away and looking at Jason. "What is it?" his honey-colored eyes, always among those dark circles, asked, and Gideon's old dark ones answered: "Open it and find out".

Reid did it. A pair of box seats to a Redskins game.

"Redskins…" Reid murmured. Only at that moment he found out what was "Redskins" - the 24-years-old man had already heard people talking about it, but he never knew that they were talking about a football team. He wasn't a fan of football, but buying this for him was so gentle from Jason, that he couldn't help but feeling very happy.

"It's a VIP box" Gideon informed, and he could notice the happiness on Reid's eyes when the youngest profiler thanked him. They smiled for each other and Spencer, certainly without thinking twice, commented that he didn't even know that the Redskins were a football team, and it made Jason laugh. Reid was expert in Mathematics, Engineering, Sociology, Criminology; he knew so many things that ignoring USA's football team's names was forgivable.

"You are coming with me, right?" Reid asked, admiring his unexpected gift.

Gideon made a signal of "no" with his head. Reid's face became a question mark again and he was about to ask why he had bought two tickets when this question got its answer:

"I don't like football, you know? Invite someone you want to go to the game with"

Reid wondered if it would be ok to say that he had no true friends he'd like to go to the game with: Morgan and Elle would make fun of his ignorance of football; Garcia would treat him like a toddler and Hotch… Well, Reid couldn't picture himself watching a Redskins game with Aaron Hotchner, and it was enough. So, who could he invite? Jason seemed to read his student's thoughts and said:

"Of course, you invite anyone you want, but I know someone who is a dedicated fan of the Redskins"

"Who?" Reid asked

"The only one in the world who calls you 'Spence'" Jason informed, and it was like Reid's mind was opening. JJ! Why hasn't he thought about her yet? Who could say that she was a fan of football? If Jason weren't there to say it, Reid would never know. But, even things seeming so easy, how could he…

"JJ? Really?" Reid made, and looked at the blonde, reading. Then, he turned to Jason, the tickets on his hands: "How can I invite her?"

Gideon found his shyness very sweet and reaffirmed his thoughts that JJ was a nice and respectful maiden girl who deserved a boy as nice and respectful as Reid. If not for romance, at least for friendship.

"I don't know, you can go and ask her if she likes the Redskins. She will say that she likes and them you invite her" Gideon said, like it was the wisest advice in the whole world. But Spencer seemed to consider this advice like it was the wisest. He thanked again and went to talk to JJ, quietly to not wake up the others, right after making the checkmate. Gideon's plan was destroyed – Reid was able to recognize he could win the chess game even with the Redskins in mind - but he accepted his loss and smiled while seeing them talking and Reid showing the tickets.

However, the two friends didn't know two things – Spencer and JJ would never fall in love for each other and the three agents were not the only ones who were awake: behind Reid and Jason, Hotch was pretending to be asleep just to be able to hear what they were talking about.

Aaron couldn't define what he thought of Gideon encouraging a romance between co-workers. He knew very well that romantic relationships between FBI members were prohibited, but he certainly was thinking that he could do everything he wanted to just because he was old and about to retire. He must have had a non-consummated relationship with some FBI female lawyer or agent, so he wanted to realize his fantasies with JJ and Reid – two young, good-looking and healthy co-workers. It was so malicious of him…

"No", Hotch thought, suddenly ashamed: "I am the malicious one for thinking that he would do it"

Hotch couldn't define another thing – why did he cared? Why was he pretending to be asleep? Why did he want to hear what Reid talked about when he thought his boss wasn't listening? His subordinate's particular subjects with Gideon weren't his business. He had a wife - to whom he talked on the telephone (Haley got sad when he informed that he'd have to pass the week working, but she understood that it was his job, so she spent those four days reading _The Unforgettable Smell of the Roses _and going shopping with Jessica) and that was waiting for him -, he had his own business…

He didn't know what he'd do if JJ and Spencer started dating, in fact he knew he would try to blame Jason, but doing it without assuming that he was playing the spy was impossible. Hotch sighed and felt the real sleepiness approaching him. Then, he tried to forget about the Redskin's question and let his thoughts fly. For his absolute surprise, he caught himself thinking about Reid and JJ – the nerd and the blonde watching the game, the new agent and the media liaison holding hands, Spencer and Jennifer kissing each other when the game came to an end. And the portrait of them kissing suddenly felt so wrong, something Hotch needed to destroy.

He couldn't define if he needed to destroy their possible romance for ethical reasons or for another reason as well.

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_MAD, adj.: Affected with a high degree of intellectual independence – Ambrose Bierce, American journalist._

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*The book "The Unforgettable Smell of the Roses" and its Irish writer are fictitious – as far as I know.  
** I don't know if there is a refectory in the FBI, I invented it.  
*** This paragraph exists and I took it from Wikiquote (Proust's page). I have never read this book, actually. But I saw Diana reading this book for Reid on a Season 4 episode.

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Merry Christmas! Thanks for putting my fic on your Story Alert, Favorite Story, Fav. Author…Thanks a lot!


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